Report: California on its way to banning rodeos?
– The LA Times reports –
File photo of a local mutton-busting event.
State hosts roughly 40 professional rodeo events annually
– Earlier this fall, Alameda County supervisors officially banned the practice of “wild cow milking” — a timed event in which a lactating beef cow, unused to human handling, has been wrangled from the fields and brought to an arena.
The move comes three years after the county banned “mutton busting” — an event in which small children are placed on the backs of scared, unsaddled sheep and try to stay on while the sheep bucks, kicks and jumps to knock the child off.
In California, there is a growing movement to ban — or seriously curtail — these kinds of performances. And lawmakers are stepping into the fray, exposing one more hot-button issue that is seemingly emblematic of the nation’s growing cultural discord.
In Los Angeles, the City Council is poised to vote on legislation that would curtail, if not eliminate, rodeo events within the city. Instead of banning particular events, the legislation seeks to ban certain devices used on rodeo animals — spurs, flank straps, and electric prods — that can cause pain or injury.
There are roughly 40 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assn. events annually throughout the state. That number doesn’t include Professional Bull Riders events or the scores of more informal community rodeos and charrerias, which take place almost daily throughout the summer.
