Wyoming answers PETA with a rodeo license plate
March 12, 2025
CHEYENNE, WY - Wyoming lawmakers answered demands by animal rights group PETA to remove the iconic bucking horse from the state’s license plate. It wasn’t the answer PETA was hoping for.
PETA made a request last June to Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and House Speaker Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, requesting that Wyoming residents have the choice to opt out from having to buy a license plate with the bucking horse logo on their vehicles. The group claims the bucking horse is representative of rodeo which they believe is cruel, making the iconic design a “rodeo-glorifying” design and a promotion of animal cruelty.
Sen. Brian Boner, a Republican from Douglas, sponsored SF 121, which creates a rodeo license plate and allows Wyomingites to donate $20 or more to collegiate rodeo programs at the University of Wyoming and the community colleges in the state that field teams.
“They’re concerned about rodeo so we thought we’d send a message that we support rodeo as the official state sport of Wyoming and now we’re going to have a license plate that commemorates that,” Senator Boner said.
PETA suggested Steamboat, a design that dates back to the early 1900s including by troops from the Wyoming National Guard fighting in France and Germany during WWI, should be replaced by a triceratops skull.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon drew applause when he signed the bill into law and told the crowd, “Let’s go, let’s show, let’s rodeo.”
The bucking horse logo, which appears on the state seal and is the official logo for the University of Wyoming, was on display during the bill signing with three members of the UW women’s rodeo team in attendance.
Instead of the bronc and rider, PETA proposes either the skull of a triceratops, the state dinosaur, or a wild mustang without a rider. But if Wyoming insists on promoting rodeo, the group also suggests a third option: a cowboy book with blood dripping off its spur.
Source: The Fence Post Magazine
Image Source: PETA
