‘Stressful’ elements of rodeo must be banned
AS a veterinarian, I am very concerned about some of the animal welfare aspects of rodeos.
I can accept that the horses are usually well looked after. My main concern is for the cattle and especially the calves. The lassoing, roping, throwing and tying of calves is likely to be highly stressful and cause considerable shock and pain.
Calves can be running flatout, then lassoed by the neck, violently jerked to a halt, and then thudded to the ground. This is very likely to cause whiplash injuries and bruising. I would invite any of the riders or spectators to experience this themselves and tell me that it is not highly stressful and painful.
We are told that this is all covered by a code of welfare for rodeo. How can such a stressful and painful procedure be considered acceptable by such a code?
We are told that ‘‘all the riders and animals are highly trained’’. This obviously does not apply to calves.
What is even worse is that the training of the horses and rodeo riders to perform calf roping and tying is done ‘‘back on the farm’’ out of sight and unscrutinised by officials or public.
How many calves are subjected to this cruelty while training inexperienced and even experienced riders? How many are injured or killed? Who would know? There are no records or witnesses. The number of injuries and deaths reported at rodeos may just be the ‘‘tip of the iceberg’’.
Roping of calves may have been necessary in the Wild West in North America where there were no fences or yards, but it is definitely not required in this day and age in this country, and especially not for a socalled sport.
Rodeo calf roping should be banned. Now! Dr C.G. Mackintosh
Dunedin
WITH reference to your editorial ‘‘Rodeo debate here to stay’’ (ODT, 16.1.19), it is good to see media including a more balanced commentary to encourage debate, but it is important also not to be misleading.
To say ‘‘there are no requirements to report publicly on animal deaths and injury’’ is incorrect. Deaths and injuries are reported to MPI and therefore on public record.
I agree the actions of some rodeo people when engaging with protesters in Whangarei last week were not appropriate but saying protesters were ‘‘manhandled by rabid rodeo fans’’ is deliberately inflammatory and not conducive to reasoned debate.
The organisers were endeavouring to stop two protesters from flaunting the rules set for the event, rules with which the protesters had agreed to comply.
Yes, rodeo is and will continue to be scrutinised, but why should this scrutiny be any greater than the scrutiny of other animalhuman interaction?
For instance, why should a bull being ridden for eight seconds or less, or a 100kg calf being roped for less than 30 seconds, be more scrutinised than a fish being hooked in the mouth and played for what could be hours?
Lyal Cocks New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys
Association president
River quality
CONTRARY to what David George asserts (ODT letters, 22.1.19) it is he, not William Nagle (letters, 16.1.19), who has got it wrong.
I started fishing in the rivers and lakes of Otago, Southland and Canterbury — and roaming the valleys and climbing hills and, later, our mountains — as a boy in the 1950s.
Few, if any of our rivers and streams and so on are in as healthy a condition now as they were then. For the most part deterioration and species loss in and on our lands and waters, including the oceans, continues. Ironically, a lot of the damage, for which few if any of us are guiltless, is attributed to ‘‘progress’’ and ‘‘development’’.
Brian Turner
Oturehua