This week, thousands of Chileans celebrated "Fiestas Patrias," the country's most important national holiday, in traditional fashion by attending a rodeo. Many of them, however, would get an unexpected surprise as animal rights activists intervened in various rodeos throughout the country in protest.

Activists consider the sport to be harmful to animals, and rodeo's status as the country's national sport further inflames their indignation.

"We denounce rodeos for the physical violence, the pain and the stress they place on animals. But also we denounce the rodeo itself, which uses other beings as instruments of entertainment," Mauricio Serrano, spokesperson for animal rights group Animal Libre, told The Santiago Times.
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