Rodeo officials are trying to improve the image of the sport. Photo / File
Rodeo officials are trying to improve the image of the sport. Photo / File
Ex-MP enlisted in $25,000 campaign to improve image.
Rodeo officials are spending $25,000 on a campaign -spear-headed by former MP Michael Laws - to improve its image.
The New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association is locked in a battle with animal rights activists who are calling for the sport to be outlawed in this country.
On the eve of the launch of the 2017-18 season, the Herald has obtained minutes of a meeting of the New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association showing a budget of $25,000 to create a sustained campaign to counter the claims from groups calling to ban rodeos.
Laws was earlier this year appointed by the sporting organisation to be its media spokesman.
Since hiring Laws the association had produced a 90-second promotional clip and a longer version on YouTube.
Politicians had also been invited to attend a rodeo this season, which gets underway on Boxing Day at Rerewhakaaitu, east of Rotorua, and many had accepted.
According to the July 29 AGM minutes of the association, Laws explained that if the threat to the sport was ignored rodeos would not exist in five years.
Michael Laws has a budget of $25,000 to promote a positive image of the New Zealand rodeo industry. Photo / File.
Talking to the Herald, Laws defended rodeos, said there was no practice employed by the rodeo industry that is illegal, and the sport operated to a strict code.
"It has been gazetted and passed by the proper authorities," he said.
"These are people independent of rodeo, they are policy activists in Wellington, responsible for enacting animal welfare legislation."
But that stance is not enough to sway animal rights activists that rodeo is safe.
Paw Justice co-founder Craig Dunn has labelled rodeos animal cruelty. At the very least he wants flank straps and spurs banned.
"We need to act on this. Having those flank straps tied around the horses' waists is pushing on the urethra cord which makes them buck.
"They tighten up at the last second and it puts all this pressure around the stomach. It acts as a predatory drive so they think someone is attacking them. That's why they're bucking. To me that's cruel."
Spurs were another tactic used to make the horses buck, Dunn said.
"You can see these guys are throwing their spurs into the side of the neck to get these horses to buck as well. They get points for making them buck."
Laws said electric cattle prods were not used, flank straps did not aggravate horses, and vets and animal welfare observers were now required at all rodeos.
"We're putting on a family event designed to be family entertainment and showcase the extraordinary skills of some very brave young men and women."
New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association president Lyal Cocks said the group complied with a Parliamentary inquiry last year following a petition by the SPCA and SAFE signed by 63,000 people calling for an end to rodeos.
He said children riding calves were no longer allowed to wear spurs and there were strict regulations on using spurs.
Cocks said flank rope was "not a harmful piece of kit" and it had been investigated and found to be "no different than the pacing harness on a racing horse".
"It's not painful. The flank ropes are padded with sheepskin or soft material. They're not tightened tight."
He said horses are trained to buck and a flank rope is used to signal this to the horse.
Rodeos in New Zealand typically take in eight events including calf roping, bareback riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing, team roping, saddle bronc and bull riding, and attract about 200 competitors, the association said.
Lawyer and Animal Agenda Aotearoa founder Catriona MacLennan said the way animals are used in rodeos contravenes the basic protections of the Animal Welfare Act.
"Animals are transported long distances, which is inherently stressful for them. The devices used to force them into the arena are painful, and the noise and being forced to buck and being thrown roughly to the ground are terrifying and painful."
MacLennan said the only reason rodeo was legal was because of the Code of Welfare (Rodeos) 2014, which "sanctioned and normalised the mistreatment of animals in rodeos".
She pointed out research for the Code by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, responsible for making recommendations to the Minister for Primary Industries, appeared to rely on the rodeo industry for statistics about animal injuries and deaths.
"Rodeo should be banned. It is inherently cruel and exploitative of animals and also teaches children that animals are for human entertainment and exploitation.
"Using contract stock for rodeo is no answer. It condemns animals to a life of misery and fear, being transported from one rodeo venue to another and repeatedly suffering pain and psychological distress in the ring."
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who was singled out in the minutes obtained by the Herald as a politician to get on-side, said he had not been approached by Laws or the association.
Peters said he had not been to a rodeo in 12 years and questioned what type of spurs were being used.
He said how a rodeo was conducted was important.
"You've got to abide by the Code. If they don't, the rodeo should be stopped. For those that do, they should be allowed to go on.
Peters didn't rule out attending a rodeo in the future.
"I'm not so PC that I'm going to be told how I should live my life. It's a matter of freedom."
