Today, SPCA, SAFE and Farmwatch submitted a petition to Parliament to ban all rodeos in NZ. The petition acquired 60,000 signatures.
Today Green MP Mojo Mathers greeted anti-rodeo campaigners at the gates of Parliament in Wellington.
SPCA CEO Ric Odom says, 'This puts animals in harm’s way for our own entertainment and we're saying that that's just not right and it shouldn’t continue and it’s not going to continue.”
However Ex-President of the New Zealand Rodeo Cowboy Association Gary Jackson says this petition is a lame horse, “During the last 4 years we've used 41,000 animals that means they've been 41,000 performances by individual animals. There were 71 animals being recorded as being injured and of those I doubt whether more than 10 would have needed any veterinary attention.”
The claimants used strong images and videos of animal abuse to help push their campaign.
“Whether that's a fair representation is an irrelevant because actually it happens. And whether that’s just a small part of a rodeo or a wider issue we know it happens,” says Odom.
According to Jackson, there are guidelines for rodeo animals, “Rodeo animals live a life of variety as far as animals go. We don’t use any of the bucking horses or unless they are over four years old and mature.”
After the petition has been tabled in Parliament it will be referred to a select committee for consideration, at that point it will be up to the committee.