They have sharpened their spurs and employed a hired gun to fight their battle — Michael Laws, current Otago regional councillor, former MP, broadcaster and former mayor of Whanganui. Never one to run from a fight, Laws has stepped into the ring as the rodeo spokesman.
As the former president of the association, Marty Deans, said at the 2017 annual meeting: "There will be a cost to pay for Michael Laws in the coming season ... while this will be expensive, it is a necessary expense."
According to the association, Laws will take a multi-pronged approach, convincing politicians current legislation is working and is right; convincing sponsors that the anti-rodeo propaganda is wrong; distributing age-appropriate pamphlets and video to all schools to be used as a teaching resource; and hitting social media with images and video to counter what is being put out by anti-rodeo groups.
I suggest it's an understatement to say the NZRCA is running scared.
Laws is a good man for the job — he is sharp, knowledgeable and has extensive experience with the media and generating publicity.
He has the gift of the gab and was well prepared to face Radio New Zealand's attack dog, Kim Hill, when she interviewed him. My impression was that it was an equal match.
Laws claimed abuse and misrepresentation was at the core of the campaign against rodeo and quoted all kinds of inquiries and reports to support his case — that rodeos were safe. Hill probed and probed while Laws dodged and deflected.
He even used the spurious argument that farm animals are different to companion animals and that it was extremely difficult to explain to a townie that calves, for example, are more likely to suffer injury and stress through normal farming practices than rodeo. As someone who has spent many years on farms and been to a number of rodeos, I find that argument total rubbish.
There is no doubt that the rodeo industry has tried to clean up its act, and those in the industry are fully aware of the negative effects bad publicity has on their organisation.
That said, cowboys — unlike the horse racing industry — still use spurs to incite bulls and horses to buck ferociously. How cruel is that?
Animals that are forced to buck have a far higher chance of doing serious damage than they would just running around the paddock on a farm. The weight of these animals coming down from great heights on what are pretty thin legs, means broken bones can easily happen and euthanasia becomes necessary.
The sight of a young calf being lassoed and having its neck snapped back at high speed is cruelty personified.
Of course, Laws was quick to point out that these animals are bred for this activity and that it is only occasionally that animals are hurt. And, after all, there is a qualified vet on hand.
I wonder how any vet with any feeling for animal safety can do a job like this. It is a legal requirement that a qualified vet attend every rodeo, so if these vets found a conscience, rodeos could be ended tomorrow.
Rodeo is no different to elephants and lions being forced to perform in a circus, and there is no room for this sort of thing in a caring society. Neither is it far removed from the savage sport of bullfighting, at which we quickly become enraged when we read about it in the paper or see it on the TV news.
Rodeos are just plain cruel, regardless of what precautions are taken, and the only respectable and safe event at a rodeo would be barrel racing and bulls headbutting a barrel or two with some clown inside.
So perhaps people will reconsider before attending another rodeo, using a vet who oversees a rodeo or even a business that sponsors a rodeo.
■ Steve Baron is a Whanganui-based political commentator, author and Founder of Better Democracy NZ. He holds degrees in economics and political science.
