There is an update on efforts to ban all rodeos in Los Angeles.
The LA City Council passed an ordinance that bans electric prods, spurs, and other rodeo gear. They have now directed the City Attorney to draft an ordinance that would flat-out ban all rodeos.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is working with Western Justice to keep the ban from happening. They say that the ordinance is written so vaguely that it would impact all events with animals, including the Rose Parade.
PRCA’s Government Relations Manager stopped by Western Sports Roundup on our sister network, The Cowboy Channel. He said that cowboys would never intentionally harm animals and the association has a near-perfect safety rating.
“We have a 99.9 percent safety rating over the last four years, and I have been around rodeo since basically I was born, and it’s ludicrous to think that cowboys or people who own the rodeo animals would intentionally hurt an animal,” Scott Dorenkamp states. “There is too much time and money invested in them. The 99.9 percent safety rating means that less than 1 percent of the animals that are exposed throughout the year have an injury of any kind.”
He goes on to say, “Less than a percent, that includes grand entry horses, flag horses, queen horses, pickup horses, all the animals.”
PRCA says that the best thing you can do is go to the LA City Clerk’s website and leave a comment in support of rodeo.
Related:
Protecting Rodeos in California