Blazing Saddles: VetScript Editor's Choice, June 2016

VetScript THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NEW ZEALAND VETERINARY ASSOCIATION

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Blazing

saddles

Tackling the hot topic of rodeo

J U N E 2 0 16

COVER STORY

EVERY OTHER YEAR for the past 10, Jill MacGibbon has been the attending veterinarian at Te Anau’s annual rodeo. During that time she remembers two animals needing to be put down: one a horse that badly injured its hoof and the other a steer that hurt its back. She doesn’t remember any other injuries. That is, unless you count all the horses that may have hurt themselves in the floats on the way to the rodeo grounds.

Ironic, isn’t it?

Still, it is the concept of rodeo that is under fire from animal rights groups, including SAFE, Farmwatch and the SPCA. The trio supported a petition to ban rodeos that was signed by 63,000 Kiwis and delivered to Green Party MP Mojo Mathers at Parliament on 17 March 2016.

VetScript has been advised that the Primary Production Select Committee has scheduled a hearing of evidence from the petitioners for early June (date to be confirmed).

The NZVA does not have an official policy on rodeo, and whether or not it should have one isn’t straightforward. It is a contentious issue in and out of the profession: some people are fundamentally opposed and some are fundamentally supportive.

“If the veterinary profession made a stance to ban rodeo,” says Callum Irvine, NZVA Head of Veterinary Services, “our position might well be the final straw for this practice in New Zealand.

But not everyone in our profession agrees with that and it’s very difficult to have a clear policy on something that has such disparate views. The challenge with developing a position on an issue like this is that there is little science to validate it, and increasingly we need to balance this with what our values tell us and what a changing society expects from us as a profession.”

With its history drawn from the ranches of the American West, rodeo in New Zealand is a niche sport. The New Zealand Rodeo Cowboys Association (NZRCA) has approximately 700 members and the association sanctions 35 rodeos annually. Those numbers have stayed relatively the same since the 1970s and, while 63,000 Kiwis signed the petition to ban the sport, the NZRCA reports that in 2015 approximately 120,000 attended rodeo performances.

As an attending veterinarian, MacGibbon inspects all the stock as they arrive, is on the grounds during all performances, inspects

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COVER STORY

Blazing

saddles Rodeo in New Zealand is under fire, but are there grounds for a ban?

Bette Flagler investigates the many sides to this hot topic.

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COVER STORY

the stock as they come out of the arena and again as they are loaded before transport home; if any stock are held over, she ensures they have been provided with water and food and are held in appropriate pens. All visible injuries, including those that require treatment, are reported to NZRCA and to MPI. Gary Jackson is the NZRCA animal welfare spokesperson and explains that, between the years 2010 and 2014, 146 rodeos were held in New Zealand and were attended by 83 veterinarians.

There were 4,116 saddle bronc and bareback rides (42 injuries to the horses/ three deaths); 4,354 bull rides (12 injuries to the bulls/four deaths); 8,194 steer ‘activities’, including steer wrestling, team roping and riding (six injuries to the steers/one death); and 4,275 calf roping runs (14 injuries to the calves/four deaths).

Jackson points out that the rate of injury in all events is lower than one percent; the number of events in New Zealand hasn’t changed in the past 30-odd years.

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But it’s not just animal injuries and deaths that upset anti-rodeo campaigners. It’s also the opportunity for injury, suffering and distress, and that the animals are used for entertainment.

In the November 2015 issue of VetScript, Irvine outlined the 2014 Code of Welfare for Rodeos developed by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) and invited members to respond to a survey about rodeo.

Of the surveys returned, 70% of the respondents said ‘no’ to a complete ban, and 30% said ‘yes’. However, 54% supported a ‘partial ban on rodeo events’. Calf roping, sheep riding and steer wrestling were listed most often as potential events to ban.

Off the back of the survey, Irvine submitted a draft position statement to the NZVA Standards Committee that echoed the results. “The survey showed that the profession was concerned about some aspects of rodeo and felt that some

events could cause unnecessary stress, suffering or harm. The position paper proposed that rough stock events could be kept but that the NZVA advocates for a ban or reevaluation of calf roping, steer wrestling and team roping,” says Irvine.

The draft was circulated to the SIBs and most endorsed it. But the committee is still grappling with a final decision.

“I think we have to be mindful of the opinions of the membership at large, and when half of them are in favour of rodeos it’s pretty hard for us to write a policy that says otherwise,” says Standards Committee member Andrew Roe. “It’s a bit of a dilemma for us on the Standards Committee. If we take a harder approach and have a policy that says ‘we don’t approve of rodeos’, then someone could turn around and say ‘what about these other events, like horse racing?’”

Plus, says Roe, “we’re an evidencebased profession and it’s pretty hard to suggest a ban on something without evidence”.

COVER STORY

“IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT NO STRESS IS CAUSED TO CALVES THAT ARE STOPPED SUDDENLY AT THE END OF A ROPE.”

Perhaps, he says, the NZVA needs to make a broader statement about using animals for entertainment.

The SPCA is fundamentally opposed to rodeo because rodeos use animals solely for entertainment, says Arnja Dale, SPCA Chief Scientific Officer.

She says the SPCA has been watching rodeos – and public opinion around them – for some time. She says that as society has matured and become more aware of animal welfare, it is more challenged by using animals for entertainment. But she doesn’t see horse racing as the SPCA’s next big advocacy campaign. “The racing industry is really

interesting,” she says. “We work with the racing industry to improve the welfare of animals.”

Which is fantastic, of course, and Dale sees the entertainment parallel between rodeo and racing, but says it wouldn’t be of benefit at this stage to focus on racing.

So what is it about rodeo, then? Is rodeo a low-hanging fruit that can elicit emotive responses from the public while other more abhorrent activities (pig hunting, for example) aren’t easy wins for animal rights groups? Or is it hypocritical for a profession to come out strongly against inhumane bobby calf treatment but turn a blind eye to calf roping?

“I’m not a fan of rodeos at all,” says animal welfare consultant veterinarian Virginia Williams. “Part of that is philosophical. Rodeo started in the States; it doesn’t have a history here. It’s definitely a sport. The problem I have with it is that the legislation defines physical needs and behavioural needs and defines physical handling in a manner that minimises the likelihood of unreasonable or unnecessary pain or distress. I just don’t see that happening in rodeo. I do not see that the pain and distress, which is particularly with the calves and the younger animals, is in any way reasonable or necessary. We do painful and distressing things to other

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COVER STORY

“IF RODEOS WERE BANNED, BUCKING HORSES WOULD HAVE NO PURPOSE IN LIFE. THE HARD EDGE OF REALITY IS THAT A LOT OF THEM WOULD FIND THEIR WAY TO CLOVER EXPORTS IN GORE.”

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animals, but basically there is a reason for those things. My contention is that at least some of the rodeo events are unreasonable and unnecessary and cause unreasonable and unnecessary pain and distress.”

While calf roping, steer wrestling and team roping appear to carry the greatest risk of animal distress, the only research done in New Zealand in this area looked at the effects of roping on calves; it used focal observation and measured plasma cortisol, creatine phosphate and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-1). The authors concluded there were no adverse effects of calf roping.1 The scientific robustness of the study has been questioned, says the SPCA’s Dale, but she acknowledges it’s the only empirical evidence we have. As a scientist, she would like to see more research and finds it interesting more hasn’t been conducted on animals used in rodeos.

Being evidence based is one thing, but, as Irvine says, “it’s hard to believe that no stress is caused to calves that are stopped suddenly at the end of a rope”.

Williams doesn’t necessarily question the study’s integrity, but does question its underlying purpose. “So you’re going to cause them stress, and they will recover. But why do we need to cause them stress in the first place? Is putting animals in a stressful situation like this justified? If you look at the cost benefit analysis, the benefit is sport for the participants and entertainment for a crowd. I don’t see that putting animals through this kind of fear and stress is justified by the benefits.”

The SPCA, says Dale, is fundamentally opposed to all events in rodeo. While she says that calf roping is particularly problematic, the organisation – and the petition – is not looking at specific events; it is calling for a complete ban on rodeo and she thinks the time is right for a ban in New Zealand.

Roe says the Standards Committee is still considering various views. “We haven’t signed off on the draft yet. We can’t just call for something to be banned based on emotive views; we’d like to see at least some objective reasoning.”

COVER STORY

Perhaps, he says, if there was more mandatory reporting, there would be more evidence.

But if we put aside the timed events (calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping and sheep riding), is rodeo life so bad for horses and bulls? Do they enjoy more freedom than animals in production systems and other uses?

It’s important that we look at the animal’s whole life and not just the eight seconds that it’s performing, says Massey University animal welfare scientist Ngaio Beausoleil.

“When you think about the whole of life of those horses,” she says, “in some ways you could argue that they actually have a better life than some of these stabled racehorses or top-level competing horses that spend quite a lot of their time in a five-by-five-metre paddock with no grass … or isolated from other horses. I think we have to be careful that we don’t just look at one part of their lives and disregard the rest, which might actually change the picture quite considerably.”

Let’s take that thought a bit further and compare the joints of a 10-year-old bucking horse with those of a 10-year-old dressage horse and you can pretty much guarantee whose X-rays are going to look

better. And then there’s the fact that some horses find their way to the rodeo because they can’t be ridden, and if they didn’t get a job at the rodeo they would be dead.

Gary McCorkindale is a farmer and member of the Outram Rodeo Club; he helps manage bucking horses that are owned by Outram and Lawrence rodeo clubs. There are about 90 horses in the string and around 45 are used for bucking.

The others include a stallion, brood mares and horses under four years old (the minimum age to be used for bucking).

For most of the year the horses graze on forestry blocks and farms owned by club members and supporters. Health issues are fairly minimal, says McCorkindale, but all the horses are cared for: they’re wormed, supplemented with selenium and so forth, just like any other horse.

Four to five times a year, bucking horses are taken to rodeos, where they may or may not perform. McCorkindale says the best buckers may get used at each rodeo, but they try to spread the workload. The greatest number of times any particular horse will be ridden each year is five. At eight seconds a ride, that means the most a horse will work annually is 40 seconds.

“If rodeos were banned,” says McCorkindale, “bucking horses would have

no purpose in life. The hard edge of reality is that a lot of them would find their way to Clover Exports in Gore.”

The overall life of a rodeo bull is also pretty good, according to Taihape veterinarian David Seifert, who has worked at the Waimarino rodeo for many years. He had two clients who ran 20 to 25 bulls for North Island rodeos. On average, he says, the bulls went to three or four rodeos a year. In his career, he’s had to euthanise one rodeo bull – which was injured at the farm. “Put that into context,” he says, “and think about the number of bulls that have broken legs, or have died from falling into gorges out on the farms. The rodeos are a much safer place than being turned out with cows.”

The veterinary profession is obviously concerned for the welfare outcomes of all animals, including those used for rodeo events. Some rodeo events may create fear, distress and pain and perhaps we need to ask if it is justified to use animals in this way. If we reevaluate the use of animals for entertainment and sporting purposes and begin with rodeo, where will the evaluation end?

“I don’t actually enjoy rodeo that much,” says Seifert. “It’s not my preferred sport. I go along because I’m doing an auditing job and making sure that things are done the way they should be. But it’s a difficult situation. If we’re going to ban those things, what justification is there for children riding ponies at pony club; or for show jumping, dressage, or three-day eventing? I’ve seen more injuries at pony club than at rodeos.”

With so many points of view and not a lot of grey area, there is much to debate when it comes to rodeo. It’s a wicked problem. But maybe it’s just the one that can challenge the NZVA and veterinarians to find a collective voice and take a stand.

REFERENCE: 1. Fisher MW, Deaker JM, Fisher ME and Kemp FE (2003). The effects of roping on the behaviour and physiology of calves in a rodeo. MAF report for Operational Research (FRM 231: Rodeo calf roping), Wellington.

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