Los Angeles City Council is proposing to prohibit rodeos, following the lead of other areas of the United States which have banned or placed restrictions on rodeos and the cruel equipment they use to force gentle animals to react out of pain and fear.
On 10 October, the Los Angeles Board of Animal Welfare Service Commissioners unanimously recommended that LA City Council ban rodeos. The recommendation cites the use of "inhumane implements" to produce unnatural behaviour for human entertainment. It also talks about the injuries and deaths resulting from rodeos, and the fact that these events are "inherently cruel".
Other jurisdictions in the US which ban rodeos are San Francisco, Pasadena and Napa County in California, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Leestown Virginia, Fort Wayne Indiana and St Petersburg Florida.
Internationally, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and parts of New Zealand and Brazil prohibit rodeos.
In Australia, only the ACT bans these events, although calf roping is prohibited in Victoria and South Australia. The above photo featuring a terrified calf is courtesy of Animal Liberation NSW.
In New South Wales, animals are subject to the full horror of rodeos. The events are exempt from key sections of the state's animal cruelty laws. Rodeos are governed by a 35-year-old Code of Practice which has never been updated, and there is no structured monitoring of compliance with this code. It is not even required that a vet be present at rodeos, so injured animals may have to wait hours in pain before they get attention. Why does our society allow such inhumane treatment of sentient creatures in the name of entertainment?
I am calling on the New South Wales Government to end the abhorrent cruelty of rodeos, and I thank you for your support. If you live in NSW, please sign and share my petition to the NSW Parliament Petition to Parliament - End Rodeo Cruelty
Thank you again for speaking up for animals.