Rodeosbanned.Couldpettingzoosbenext?

MARIO BARTEL mbartel@tricitynews com

The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) is celebrating a recent decision by Port Moody council to ban rodeos in the city

In a statement on its website, the humane society said the ban is “a big win for animals.”

Coun Kyla Knowles introduced the motion for the ban even though, she acknowledged, Port Moody “doesn’t exactly have a space to hold rodeo events.”

Knowles said prohibiting such events in the city serves as a symbolic gesture that disavows the pain and suffering rodeo’s four-legged participants can experience as they’re bucked, roped or wrestled to the ground.

“Animals in rodeos are often hurt,” she said, adding council received 13 letters requesting the events be banned.

“We’re very grateful for the advocacy of local residents and pleased to see the City of Port Moody taking the initiative to proactively ban inhumane rodeo events,” said VHS campaign director, Emily Pickett, in a news release.

“We hope other communities will follow Port Moody’s lead by moving away from inhumane rodeo events”

The District of North Vancouver and Vancouver are the only other cities in British Columbia that have banned rodeos

Vancouver’s ban was enacted in 2006, nine years after the last such event was held in the city.

A poll conducted by Research Co. in 2022 showed 36 per cent of British Columbians are “strongly opposed” to using animals in rodeos while 28 per cent are “moderately opposed”

During the Victoria Day weekend, a small group of animal welfare activists gathered outside the gates of the Cloverdale Rodeo in Surrey to protest its treatment of animals at the three-day event that was making its return after three years off because of the COVID-19 pandemic and construction work at the fairgrounds.

In 2007, the Cloverdale

Rodeo Association removed four events calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and wildcow milking in response to concerns about the treatment of animals

Meanwhile, Port Moody staff will look at the implications of possibly extending the city’s rodeo ban to also include mobile petting zoos operating on city property.

Knowles said she was a little “nonplussed” to see an exhibit at the city’s recent Fingerling

Festival where kids were allowed to handle exotic animals like lizards and snakes.

She said “animals are not for entertainment. This is not the way society is going for humane practices with animals.”

Knowles said such zoos often transport animals in small, confining cages and enclosures and when the animals get older or bigger, “they are disposed of”

But Coun Diana Dilworth said the city must be careful how far such a ban goes

She said “a lot of time, kids have their first exposure to animals at petting zoos” or when animals are brought in to schools as part of an educational program.

In 2019, former Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov suggested a weekend petting zoo might be an appropriate use of the city’s property at the corner of Ioco Road and Murray Street, where the old firehall was located.

He said activating the barren corner with a petting zoo, community garden or events in partnerships with local businesses or environmental groups would “inspire a sense of pride and ownership of this site.”