L.A. Joins War on Rodeos

Above, bull-riding at the 2021 Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last evening, I received an email from Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield. Somehow, I got on his mailing list when I lived in Tarzana.

Normally, I don't pay much attention to the emails but this one caught my attention.

It appears that some members of the L.A. City Council have joined the war against rodeos. He cites 35  fatalities of animals over a two decade period (that's twenty years, folks) during rodeo performances. He thinks some were due to animal abuse. In almost every sport, injuries and fatalities do happen. 

I've been to many rodeos here in New Mexico and all of the organizers and participants bend over backwards to ensure animal and human safety. They all begin with a prayer for a safe event. 

Here's what he sent (comments on this blog post from rodeo folks are welcome):

Armand --

On Wednesday, a key City Council committee took a big step toward making our city more humane toward animals. The Personnel Audits and Animal Welfare Committee unanimously supported my proposed ordinance banning electrocution devices, flank straps and other tools of torture at rodeos. Following similar laws in cities including Pasadena, Irvine, Chino Hills, and Pittsburgh (where it passed 30 years ago), this will put our city on the record- if entertainment requires animal abuse, it has no place in Los Angeles. 

As the LA Times reported this week, in California over the past two decades in 35 of the injury reports, the animal died immediately or within minutes of the accident, or had to be euthanized — or in one case, slaughtered — in the following hours or days. And 28 of those animals died while performing. Twelve horses died in bronco riding events — rodeo performances in which a flank strap is cinched around a horse’s waist to make it buck. Riders try to stay atop the bucking horse for several seconds. One of these horses ran headfirst into a pole and died almost immediately; another went full speed into a metal gate and broke its neck. Others had their legs break underneath them as they bucked.

The details are horrifying and it is believed that these statistics represent a severe undercount. 

One of the big annual rodeos for the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) happens in the heart of Downtown LA with regular usage of these harmful devices. Their lobbyists have been pushing the narrative that this law would have an impact on our robust, local equestrian community- this simply is not true. I have spoken extensively with our City Attorney and his team has made it abundantly clear that this law is about rodeos, and that is it. It won't impact recreational riders, the upcoming Olympics or anything of the sort.

While my legislation passed this critical hurdle, it still has to come to the full City Council for a vote- most likely in the new session this January. If you are interested in learning more about this effort or have any questions or concerns, I encourage you to write to us at c03.foryou@lacity.org.