Have you ever seen a farmer lasso a calf and smack it to the ground? If a farmer were to do things to his farm animals that are done in rodeo there is a good likelihood that farmer would be prosecuted for animal cruelty.
PAT DEAVOLL: ‘The number of organisations lobbying for New Zealand to join a burgeoning quota of countries to ban rodeos is growing. Save Animals From Exploitation (Safe) campaigns director Hans Kriek says his organisation is “strongly opposed to rodeo mainly because we believe its cruel to animals and imposes unnecessary stress and at times causes pain and death”. “We do not believe in this for the sake of entertainment.”
Safe also believes rodeo is against the Animal Welfare Act which states that “animals must be handled in a manner that minimises the likelihood of unnecessary pain and distress”. “When you chase a little calf around, flick it in the air and dump it on the ground, this causes distress – even the rodeo people will acknowledge this. “The act says we can’t do this and yet we allow it to happen. We have a law that says one thing, but it’s not enforced.
“If a farmer were to do things to his farm animals that are done in rodeo there is a good likelihood that farmer would be prosecuted for animal cruelty. Have you ever seen a farmer lasso a calf and smack it to the ground? “Any farmer knows that if you treat an animal with respect and don’t cause it any distress the animal will be calm. But a calm animal is not performing. So the animal must be put under a certain level of stress to perform for the people watching,” Kriek says…
A spokesman for Direct Animal Action, Apollo Taito says the long term goal of his organisation is “the total ban on rodeos across New Zealand”. “We want the new Labour Government to meet the pre-election promises around banning the worst practices in rodeos,” he says. These include electric prodders, flanking (putting a strap around the animal’s waist to make it buck) tail twisting and the use of calves in the rope and tie discipline’. SOURCE…
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