PA’s Largest Street Fair Cancels Pig & Rooster Chase

The Ephrata Fair, Pennsylvania’s largest street fair, has decided to cancel its annual pig and rooster chase event after local animal advocates gathered nearly 10,000 petition signatures against it. In this event, children and adults chase hogs and roosters around in order to grab them and carry them back to a crate for trophies. The event goes for many rounds over several hours, with the same pigs and roosters used repeatedly. The Ephrata Fair has held the pig and rooster chase for more than 39 years, dubbing it a “family fun event,” but the Ephrata Farmer’s Day Association Board of Directors announced it has “decided to suspend the event,” citing animal activists’ disruption of last year’s pig chase and “concern for public safety.” “This is a fantastic step in the right direction by the Ephrata Fair,” Kelly Lehman, who was arrested at the fair last year for disrupting the chase, said. “But a permanent ban on animal chase events is needed to protect animals.”