Not everyone is happy that a bull riding competition will take place at the Scotiabank Centre on June 1

Not everyone is happy that a bull riding competition will take place at the Scotiabank Centre on June 1.

Although there were no bull riding events in Halifax between 2011 and 2018, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Canada returned last summer to host their first event in seven years.

An online petition opposing the event, created in 2018, has now garnered almost over 77,000 signatures.

"It's cruel to animals, plain and simple," says Ty Savoy, a local animal rights activist who was involved in last year's protest.

Savoy says that a group of concerned citizens will protest the event again this year.

"Bull riding isn't a traditional thing that happens in the Maritimes," he tells NEWS 95.7's The Todd Veinotte Show. "And people are starting to stand up."

Although riders say the animals are treated better than the athletes, Savoy is concerned about how they are used for entertainment purposes.

"They call this a sport. A sport is something between two consenting participants," he says. "But these animals are forced to do this, and that's why it's wrong."

The PBR tour is expected to draw crowds in person and on television.

"They're making a lot of money from it, TSN just signed a deal with PBR Canada," Savoy says. "It's a big televised event, and that's what it's about, money."

The animal activist says a video taken at a Halifax event in the 2006 shows some of the ways animals are mistreated.

"If you look you can see the men are doing things to the animals, twisting their tails, using small shock devices," says Savoy.

Savoy hopes some of the practices have changed since the video was taken, but he says that handlers still have to make sure the bulls will buck.

"You don't want a bull going out of the chute that doesn't buck," he says. "So in order to get them to buck, you tighten the flank strap, or the spurs."

The flank strap is particularly concerning, Savoy says, since it tightens right around the bull's genitals.

"That makes bucking very painful," he says. "If someone did that to your dog or cat, you'd have something to say about it."

The group of animal activists will protest across from the Scotiabank Centre on the day of the event, and also hope to take the issue to HRM Municipal Council.

"In the city of Vancouver in 2006 they outlawed spurs, flanking straps and whips, and that got rid of these rodeo events there," Savoy says. "So that's something we can do here pretty easily."

Savoy says that animal activists in Moncton, New Brunswick will host a similar protest on the day of Moncton's PBR event at the Avenir Centre, May 25.

The Halifax protest saw about 50 people in attendance last year, and Savoy hopes this year will draw an even bigger crowd.

"It's similar to exotic animal circuses, and they're no longer in the Maritimes," he says. "When people take an objective look at it, this isn't entertaining."