CALGARY — Animal rights activists set up cardboard tomb stones and held up placards across the road from the Calgary Stampede grounds on Saturday — two days after three horses died at the chuckwagon races.

A few dozen protesters chanted slogans like “Stampede OK, rodeo no!” and “tradition is no excuse for abuse” at the side of a busy thoroughfare, at times arguing with passersby on their way into Stampede Park.

“We would like Calgarians to know that we are not against the Stampede as a whole. If people want to party and watch Garth Brooks and go on rides, that’s fine,” said organizer Jeremy Thomas.

“There’s other ways of celebrating our Western heritage than celebrating animal cruelty.”

Michael Alvarez-Toye with the Calgary Animal Rights Coalition said he was shocked — but not surprised — when he heard three horses were killed at Thursday night’s chuckwagon race, in which covered wagons pulled by horses thunder around a dirt track. “One thing that they like to claim is that there’s this great love for these animals, that they receive the best care,” he said.

“If you love something, they don’t expose it to such risks, such potential for death.”

Adriana Shaw-Norbash, 11, said she thinks how animals are treated at the rodeo and chuckwagons is “wrong.”

She said it’s going to be a long time before those events go away, but there’s one aspect they should do away with immediately.