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In February, the Waikato Rodeo will be held at Kihikhi domain. This prompted me to write this blog and made me pause for thought… With all the concerns surrounding rodeo and the alleged cruelty it inflicts upon the animals involved, I wondered what the general feeling is surrounding the matter.
Personally, I believe the top roping riders are extremely skilled, like any top equestrian rider. The calf roping requires great precision and skill, as well riding skill and years of training. The horses are extremely obedient and remarkably patient. However, it is the calves being roped and brought down that I wonder about. Is this cruel? How different would this be to a calf being hunted down in the wild by a lion?
In terms of the bull and bronc riding, the riders need to possess a great deal of bravery while the animals twist and buck underneath them. For a few minutes of total adrenalin, is it worth the ordeal the animals go through? Rodeos claim horses and bulls are only bucked a few times per year and for the rest of the time spend their time grazing in a natural herd situation.
The internet holds a great deal of opinions that see rodeo as harassment and abuse of the animals. At times I wonder who drives these accusations and whether these critics have ever been to a rodeo themselves for a close up look at the condition of the animals. New Zealand Rodeo Association national secretary Kalym Lipsey states in an interview with The New Zealand Herald that there are no welfare issues and all the organisation's animals are looked after "like part of the family".
Mr Lipsey said less than 1 per cent of the animals suffer injuries - he said they are very minor - and the numbers were similar for the riders brave enough to jump on board.
He invites "anyone else who doubts us" to take a closer look at how the rodeo treats its animals. "We are happy for those people who think there's an animal welfare issue for them to come to a rodeo and we will show them the gear and the animals and how they're looked after. We have absolutely no problem doing that."
I guess at the end of the day, the level of this abuse comes down to ones personal judgment of what constitutes animal cruelty. Should rodeo be banned or are we overreacting? What are your thoughts on this?
I largely agree with you Anthea, and these rodeo animals are mostly bred for their job. The bulls and horses buck naturally and most probably enjoy it. After all, my horses enjoy a good buck when they're let go in the paddock too! The animals are only used occasionally and then left to graze in a natural herd situation for the rest of the year. Animal welfare is taken a lot more seriously in rodeo circuits these days and I think you'll find that most rodeo clubs have rules and regulations regarding this.
I can see there is still a lot of uninformed people in our country. Rodeo Bronc's, Bulls, etc have a pretty good life considering they only work for 8 seconds at a rodeo. A lot of these animals only attend 1 rodeo per year, they are well looked after, feed, drenched etc and if they are good at their job, they live years longer than other farmed stock. These animals are trained to do their job and if you watch you'll notice that most head straight for the gate once they've bucked off their rider, thats not by chance, thats TRAINED.
LAST QUOTE: These things don't happen when part of a farming operation or even a rodeo, so stop being so bl**dy soft and get on with it. It's nanna types that stuffed the circus and lion parks too. ???? Umm, now.. The so called LION PARK is a sad state of affairs, here in GODS own NZ, well they "Never should of been brought out been brought to NZ. Never thought his work out for the "welfare" of the Lions". whoo wow big man, taking out all these beautiful Lions claws?? THESE POOR MAJESTIC CREATURES, HAVE HAD THIER CLAWS RIPPED OUT (OH OPERATED OUT) TO SUIT THE HUMANS ENVIRONMENT. NOW THEIR ARE GOING LAME< WAS ON TV OTHER DAY>>> THE PLACE WENT PASSED ADVISE NOT TO DO THIS BARBARIC PRACTICE THA IN THE WORLD! the practice means the poor LIONS, had more than their claws taken out so much so, bone structure in their pads are collapsing, and need a desperate 6 hr operation for each lion to be reversed, and then wont allow the actual claw to grow back! COST to bring the USA VET to do this in NZ, $250,000! Their should of been a large PENALTY for the VET and the LION M-N to pay for such cruelty. Notice that program never told you HOW you could get so close with out been clawed to death? as these beautiful creatures became subject to having their claws taken out before hand! IT IS MAN who has gone to the Dogs, well then treatment like this... Where was the SPCA?
For the horses of the rodeo, it is their last stop before the chop shop, and for the most of the year they graize in a herd and then have 5-8 rodeos. These horses love to buck, and pretty quickly learn their job, I have seen horses in the bucking string that are more than happy to buck a cowboy off then once their job is done stop and wait for the pick up riders to release the stretchy flank strap. And we have looked after a few of the older bucking horses in the winter, feeding and covering them, these horses are not abused. The people that don't like rodeos need to get a life and maybe focus on animal creulty that is actually that, like banning dog fights and leave the rodeos alone.
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