Editorial: The tide turns against rodeo shows

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

Many years ago I went to a rodeo in the Bay of Plenty. I haven't been since.

A long day out in a very hot sun didn't endear me to the sport and, I guess, it just wasn't my thing.

I couldn't say if the animals - horses, bulls, calves - were suffering, but that nagging doubt was there.

I certainly didn't see any signs that they were enjoying it.

The rodeo circuit still kicks along, and to a good number it is a fun family day out, but one senses the tide has turned against it.

Hunterville's show is coming up this week and animal campaigners want it boycotted. Other shows in recent times have been picketed, while a petition and a poll suggest the public mood may be swinging behind the buckers and the broncos.

New Zealand is a young country with a pioneering heritage which means animals were tools to be worked or food for fuel and their wellbeing was neither here nor there - unless it affected the wellbeing, usually financial, of a two-legged critter.

But as the country has grown up and matured, legislation around the care of various beasts has followed.

While the Ministry of Primary Industries has a default position of protect the famer rather than monitor the industry, even it has had to take action to protect those other creatures that fall under its remit.

And just as there are a few farms where animals are treated cruelly while most do a good job of care, so there are probably bad eggs in the rodeo world with the majority at least having good intentions toward their four-legged fellow performers.

But the rodeo seems to belong to a bygone era and it is likely to feel the squeeze of intensifying scrutiny.

Many years ago I went to the circus, and I couldn't say if the animals were suffering. But society said "Enough" and now you don't find animals at the circus any more.