The Animal Justice Party (AJP) joined local animal rights advocates to gather outside Gosford Showground on Saturday, August 23, to protest the Bull Throttle event occurring that night.
Deputy Leader of the AJP Central Coast, Emily McCallum, said the group stands firmly against rodeos, which rely on the suffering of animals – sometimes resulting in serious injury or death.
Protestors held signs showing the fear and distress experienced by animals in rodeo arenas, alongside messages such as Be Kind, Not Cruel.
“Rodeos are violent spectacles built on cruelty, ignoring the suffering of innocent animals,” McCallum said.
“At a time when society is battling a crisis of domestic and family violence, is this really the kind of behaviour we want to normalise for our children?”
Rodeos are already banned in Britain, The Netherlands, parts of Europe and the United States, as well as in the ACT, where a ban has been in place since 1992.
McCallum said public opposition in NSW is growing.
“Last year, more than 13,300 people signed a petition on Change.org calling for an end to rodeo cruelty,” she said.
“Despite this, rodeos continue to operate under an exemption to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“All major animal welfare organisations, alongside the AJP and a growing community of people, oppose rodeos.
“We urge Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty to follow the ACT’s example and ban rodeos here in NSW.”
I agree wholeheartedly, in earlier years they were worse than now. We do not have cowboys in this country. Leave this cruel “sport” in “progressive” America where it belongs.
Good on you Emily. Rodeos are a cruel way to “entertain” the public. The animals involved are under great stress and risk of injury. No one in a civilised culture should get enjoyment at the expense of creating terror in another sentient being!