63,000 sign petition to ban ‘cruel’ rodeos
Banning rodeos in New Zealand would end the ‘‘inherent cruelty’’ to animals involved in the events, welfare advocates say.
Animal welfare organisations presented a petition calling for a ban on rodeos to Parliament yesterday.
SPCA chief executive Ric Odom said the petition – signed by 63,000 people – sent a message that New Zealanders did not support rodeo events continuing in the country. ‘‘This puts animals in harm’s way for our entertainment, and we’re saying . . . that’s not right.’’
Odom said two animals had already died this year as a result of rodeos, while it was unclear how many others were injured at the events. However, it was clear that the animals involved in the rodeos suffered.
‘‘When you see animals in the chutes that are prodded with electric prodders, or frothing at the mouth, or trying everything they can to get out of that confined place, that’s not good.’’
Farmwatch spokeswoman Jasmine Gray said the organisation had seen animals being punched and kicked during three years of rodeo investigations, as well as ‘‘calves somersaulting through the air’’ with a rope pulled tightly around their neck. The ‘‘cruelty’’ tolerated at rodeos would not be seen as acceptable for any other animals, Gray said.
‘‘It would not be OK to chase a puppy on a horse, to rope them around the neck, throw them on the ground and tie them up, so why do we do this to calves?’’
Safe executive director Hans Kriek said the country’s animal welfare laws made it ‘‘quite clear’’ that animals should be handled in a way that minimised the chances of unnecessary or unreasonable pain and distress.
‘‘We are having the law broken here, all for the sake of entertainment.’’
Green Party MP Mojo Mathers, who accepted the petition, said the Government needed to outlaw the ‘‘inherent cruelty’’ in rodeo, which was not part of New Zealand’s culture.
‘‘If you’re repeatedly prodding an animal and giving it an electric shock in order to force it to do something it doesn’t want to do, to me that is cruel.’’
A ban on rodeos would help to preserve New Zealand’s reputation as a leader in animal welfare, Mathers said.
NZ Rodeo Cowboys Association animal welfare officer Gary Jackson said rodeos made ‘‘minimal’’ use of electric prodders, while it was not in their best interests to mistreat the animals.
‘‘The last thing you want to be doing is upsetting an animal in the chute when you’re sitting down on its back and trying to ride it.’’
Jackson said independent veterinary reports from 2010 to 2014 gathered by the association showed there were 146 rodeos involving 41,000 animals, with only 12 deaths and 74 injuries.
Investigations from animal rights groups had not led to any prosecutions for animal welfare breaches, and the association was not overly worried about the threat of a ban, he said.
‘‘They’ve been collecting petitions for six months, they got 60,000 – we have over 120,000 spectators at our rodeos annually.’’