For 27 years, Chandler, Arizona has held an Annual Ostrich Festival, contributing to the public support for animal cruelty. The 3 day festival – March 11-13, 2016 - features 8 ostrich races, in which jockeys climb onto the delicate wings of ostriches while the ostrich handler suffocates the harmless bird with a bag over the bird’s head. The handler rips the bag off, scaring the ostrich into running for safety. The jockey grabs the wings to stay on the ostrich; however, he must remember not to grab the ostrich’s long, fragile neck, which strangles the bird.

Ostrich chariot races are also common. This includes hooking an ostrich up to a chariot in which the rider expects to be pulled up to 43 miles per hour. 300,000 people attend the festival from all over the United States.

The festival also includes Ostrich Alley featuring ostrich burgers, hand-painted ostrich eggs, feather dusters made from ostrich feathers, and ostrich skin, all contributing to cruelty. In a small pen, ostrich feathers are plucked from live ostriches who are forced to endure the pain of being plucked alive. The next festival is March 11-13, 2016.

This cruelty needs to end

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“On one occasion I saw and sketched a female tending her hatchlings. The young will get careful attention from both male and female adults before they develop the necessary independence to be on the move with the family group.”
— John Seerey-Lester