UN asked to ban kids at rodeos

Young children watching rodeo will grow up learning that violence is acceptable, says Anti Rodeo Action NZ.

In a letter to the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child, the group voiced concern over the adverse effects of rodeos on children.

The UN committee, which last year urged the Spanish government to ban children from spectating or taking part in bullfights, monitors the UN convention on the rights of the child.

The letter, written by the group’s psychotherapist Lynn Charlton, called for the New Zealand Government to ban under-18s from competing or spectating at rodeos.

‘‘Animals are subjected to fear and injury during rodeos, and that was not acceptable entertainment for young children,’’ she wrote.

‘‘Witnessing violence teaches children that this is acceptable and a part of ordinary life.’’

Rodeos encouraged machismo and outdated ideas of what it was to be a man, Charlton wrote. They put pressure on young boys to be seen as ‘‘tough guys.’’

Rural communities saw those opposing rodeo as ‘‘complaining urbanites’’ that needed to ‘‘harden up’’ and accept the brutality of the sport as a normal part of life.

Psychologist Simon Kemp of the University of Canterbury said it was possible that rodeos had an adverse effect on children. However, for the event to be detrimental, the children would have to see the event as harmful to the animal, rather than play or sport.

President of the Rodeo Cowboys Association Lyal Cocks said rodeo had an image problem, but thousands enjoyed it.

‘‘Witnessing violence teaches children that this is acceptable and a part of ordinary life.’’ Anti Rodeo Action NZ psychotherapist Lynn Charlton

‘‘What attracts people to compete in rodeo? It’s a very competitive sport involving males, females and animals against the clock. It requires teamwork with and against animals. Competitors have an affinity with animals and want to work and compete with them.’’

In any sport with animals, regrettably there were accidents, but it was no different from farming or horse racing, he said.

‘‘Without healthy competitive animals, we don’t have a sport. Everyone involved in rodeo is an animal lover, that’s what the sport is all about. We are people who like to interact with animals.’’

The anti-rodeo brigade had the right to protest, Cocks said.

Green Party animal welfare spokesman Gareth Hughes said he would not take a child to a rodeo because the sport sent the wrong signals about how to treat animals.

‘‘It’s unacceptable that in 2019 we still see rodeo scaring, hurting and killing animals under the guise of entertainment.

‘‘Like bullfighting in Spain, we are seeing changing attitudes to animal welfare in New Zealand, and society is moving away from oldfashioned events with old-fashioned animal welfare attitudes like rodeo.’’

Hughes had recently launched a member’s bill that would outlaw the worst rodeo events – calf roping, steer wrestling and the use of flank straps.