Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - As the city of Los Angeles works to draft a law to ban certain rodeo activities, the Professional Bull Riders Saturday will conclude its two-day event at downtown's Crypto.com Arena, which has once again sparked the ire of animal rights activists.
Day Two of the Michelob ULTRA PBR Los Angeles, presented by Ariat, is set to begin at 6:45 p.m. Saturday. The event annually attracts thousands of fans. The two-day PBR stop in early 2023 drew 12,529 fans for its Saturday night event, with about 20 animal rights demonstrators outside the arena.
PBR officials said their event showcases the world's best bull riders trying to hang onto the rankest bulls for eight "wild" seconds, a "mashup of athletic excitement wrapped into an amped-up, award-winning entertainment experience."
"Heading into the annual LA event, PBR is riding a strong wave of popularity -- with television broadcasts on CBS that average more than 1 million fans and five sold out events in the month of February alone," Andrew Giangola, a representative for PBR, said in a statement. "More brands are hitching themselves to this booming sport. PBR finished 2023 with nine new partnerships, headlined by Anheuser-Busch. Overall, the PBR sponsorship business has doubled since 2020."
In response to the rodeo setting up shop in the city, the non-profit Last Chance for Animals and other animal activists are preparing to rally outside the venue from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. The group was also outside Friday's event.
"The Professional Bull Riders' (PBR) Team Tour will once again bring its display of animal abuse to the Crypto.com Arena. Last Chance for Animals (LCA) will be staging a protest at the arena during the PBR's `Unleash the Beast' bull riding circus show to bring attention to the horrible ways the rodeo tortures animals to get them to perform," the group stated in an advisory issued Wednesday.
"Rodeos, and stand-alone bull riding events, like PBR, glorify animal abuse as they masquerade as family entertainment," Lisa Beal, campaigns manager for LCA, said in a statement. "Bull riding is inherently cruel and abusive to animals. These events are nothing more than scared animals bucking and running for their lives. PBR is just another traveling circus."
Giangola refuted those criticisms, saying that PBR bulls are the "real rock stars of the sport and treated as such."
"Contrary to these groups' false claims, there is absolutely no negative stimulation used to encourage a bull to buck. Bucking is in their bloodlines," he added. "These marvelous animal athletes, born to buck, love what they do, and live a great, long life. To be a bucking bull in the PBR is like winning the animal lottery."
He noted that a 150-pound cowboy is not going to hurt a 1,800-pound bucking bull. According to PBR data from a full year of shows, bulls are injured in .0002% of their outs -- when they leave the chute with a rider.
Giangola stated that PBR bulls live to be 12-15 years old, passing of natural causes.
LCA also criticized the city of Los Angeles for "dragging their feet" on a rodeo ban effort that was moved forward in December 2023. While city officials work to draft the ordinance, animals continue to suffer in rodeos, the group said.
"LCA believes that Angelenos are compassionate people who care about the welfare of all animals," Beal said in a statement. "Traditions and culture are never an excuse for animal abuse."
On Dec. 5, in a 14-0 vote, L.A. City Council members instructed the city attorney to update an ordinance that would define and prohibit rodeos, as well as "harmful practices, techniques and devices or rodeo-related events."
According to the office of Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who has been spearheading the effort to ban rodeos across the city since 2021, the draft ban is still in the pipeline and could take a few months before it's taken up by the council's Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee.
His office also noted that it is "not uncommon" for ordinances similar to the rodeo ban to take a while because it requires efforts to find compromise.
"It is imperative that the City of Angels makes it clear that animal cruelty is wrong and take steps to ensure that events that have a proven track record of harming animals are no longer allowed," Blumenfield previously said.
The ordinance is expected to define a rodeo as an "exhibition, performance, or competition for live public entertainment." Specifically, any events that are outlined in the state's law on the same issue, including bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, or other event or activity that involves physically taking down an animal, roping an animal, or attempting to ride a bucking animal.
At the same time, Blumenfield worked with Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez on an amendment -- that was also approved -- which called for the city attorney to carve out certain protections for cultural and traditional equestrian events, such as American Indian, Native American, Indigenous Rodeo, Mexican Charreria and Escaramuza events that do not involve the prohibited aforementioned rodeo activities. For example, the trick roping that is performed by horse riders without lassoing animals or choreographed riding to music would not fit the definition of rodeo.
"It is imperative that the City of Angels makes it clear that animal cruelty is wrong and takes steps to ensure that events that have a proven track record of harming animals are no longer allowed," according to a statement from Blumenfield's office.
On PBR, Rodriguez said the organization has a long history and tradition in the city.
"(PBR) has state-mandated health and safety protections for animals and enjoys tremendous support among native Angelenos for the cultural traditions and history it preserves, while also providing a boon to tourism jobs and our local economy," the councilwoman said.
She encouraged stakeholders such as Indigenous, Latino and Black community members to take a seat at the table and share their concerns by engaging with the city.
This would ensure the resulting ordinance language is "responsive" to current practices and does "not result in inequitable enforcement and unnecessary criminalization," Rodriguez said in a statement.
She added, "This issue, particularly as a first-generation Mexican American, feels like an attack and punishment on our cultural tradition and equine practices, especially when the original ordinance language was exempting equestrian activities practiced by affluent communities."
Rodriguez emphasized her commitment to ensure there is equity in equine practices in the city of Los Angeles for all, not just the select few.
The Los Angeles Times has reported injuries of animals participating in rodeos ranging from minor maladies to crushed skulls, broken legs, gored flanks and snapped spines suffered as panicked animals rush out of their chutes.
Several activists and animal welfare organizations including Last Chance for Animals, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Defenders International, PETA Latino, spcaLA and others backed the ban.
A rodeo ban would end the annual PBR events in the city of Los Angeles, which usually hosts events at Crypto.com Arena in February.
"If these animal activists had their way, PBR would be banned, sending these marvelous bulls treated like kings to a slaughterhouse," Giangola said in a statement. "It's hard to understand how that represents any kind of love for animals."