Margie Fishman

The News Journal

One one side of Justison Street were six dressed-down women, a male vegan from Dover and a New Castle thirtysomething wearing a sweltering ape costume and cradling a bat (until city police told him to drop it).

On the other: Three young men donning cowboy hats waving signs reading, "Let 'em ride."

It was the battle of the protesters Friday night as animal advocates and rodeo sympathizers clashed over the cowboy monkey rodeo, a Blue Rocks tradition featuring chaps-wearing capuchin monkeys straddling border collies and herding sheep for laughs.

Despite previous PETA protests, a petition drive equating such stunts with animal cruelty and a lukewarm rebuke from the president of Minor League Baseball, the Blue Rocks actively promoted cowboy monkey rodeo performances this weekend.

A peek inside Frawley stadium shortly before the game Friday found vendors hawking $10 foam cowboy hats, but no trace of rodeo operator Tim "Wild Thang" Lepard and his brood. They were scheduled to perform three times Friday night, followed by fireworks sponsored by the Delaware State Education Association, the public school employees' union.

Blue Rocks media director Matt Janus declined a request for comment from The News Journal, explaining that he was busy getting ready to broadcast the game.

In response to a PETA petition signed by more than 47,000 people, Minor League Baseball President Pat O'Connor recently released a statement that said his organization "neither supports nor encourages the practice of using animal acts of any kind, especially animal acts for which the Humane Society has expressed serious concerns, to entertain our great fans." O'Connor stopped short of condemning such promotions outright.

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life," said Gabrielle Carleen, an accountant who drove from Long Beach Island, New Jersey, to participate in the PETA-organized protest Friday, which included three Delawareans. "I'm sure if these monkeys had a voice, they would say I don't want to be here."

STORY: Beloved Blue Rocks' Cowboy Monkey Rodeo riles PETA

Carleen, who planned to protest a police-sponsored pig roast in New York City Saturday, said she respected the counter-protesters' right to free speech but took issue with them claiming the same sidewalk.

Eventually, the young bucks moved across the street, after one PETA protester compared them to Westboro Baptist Church, which is known for its hate-filled funeral protests. Her fellow protester encouraged the group to "spread out a little more because it would make us look bigger."

Wearing a goatee and a Sharpie pen around his neck, monkey rodeo crusader Nick Blanco blamed the animal activists for "trying to shut down something positive."

The Wilmington artist, who met Lepard and his menagerie once before, has painted cartoonish tribute portraits of the monkeys.

Asked if monkeys wearing neon green tassels and mounting herding dogs was "natural behavior," the 32-year-old fired back: "I don't think anything is natural anywhere. Everything is synthetic."

"This isn't the 1900's where the monkeys are living in the jungle," he added.

Several onlookers said they came to the game for the fireworks — and they weren't referring to the monkey business.

Dave Wagner of Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, recalled dodging wild monkeys throwing feces when he was stationed in Panama as an Army infantryman. A self-described animal lover — "they're like my kids" — he said he's okay with the rodeo "as long as the monkeys or the sheep dogs aren't getting hurt."

Animal rights activists have mounted nationwide protests against the event, blasting the Blue Rocks and other minor league teams for cashing in on Lepard's history of U.S. Department of Agriculture violations related to his treatment of the primates. Supporters, meanwhile, praise the rodeo as family-friendly fun in which the stars are treated with respect both on and off the field.

PETA protesters vowed to be back Saturday night, when the Blue Rocks face off again against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and the monkeys are back in the saddle.

Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.