California County To Consider Ban On Rodeo Events, Gear

The Alameda County, Calif., Board of Supervisors is set to consider banning wild cow milking contests in rodeos and the use of spurs and straps used by rodeo cowboys to provoke bulls and horses into bucking, along with the stiff ropes used to lasso cattle or tie them down.

The board will hear the proposal next month, and, if approved, could threaten the future of rodeos at the alameda County fairgrounds and the Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Castro Valley that just celebrated its 100th annual event in May, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The proposed ordinance would ban the act of tackling or milking bovines – such as steers, calves, bulls, oxen, heifers or cows – for entertainment or sport. The policy has been sought for years by animal-rights activists, who consider the wild cow milking event cruel and inhumane.

“Our lifestyles are important, cultures are important,” longtime Alameda County rancher Brian Morrison told the Mercury News. “For this ordinance to try to be piggybacked on to hurt a particular culture and institution like the Rowell Ranch Rodeo is shameful.”

The new ordinance was introduced last week and will be considered by the board Sept. 20. The issue was postponed after others on the board pointed out that the county’s agriculture department had not been given an opportunity to review the language, the Mercury News reported.

Rodeo critics say many rodeo sports, especially wild-cow milking, amount to the humiliation, abuse and torture of livestock.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles City Council supported the idea of rodeo rules similar to the ones being considered in Alameda County, though that proposed policy still awaits the council’s final approval.

Alameda County has already imposed some restrictions on rodeos. In 2019, the county supervisors banned mutton-busting events, where children throw themselves onto the backs of sheep and ride them.

Next month’s board hearing will pit animal-rights groups against lifelong Alameda County ranchers who feel their way of life has been deeply misunderstood by the outside world.

“We don’t get into this business because there’s a lot of money in it, and we damn sure don’t get into this business to hurt animals,” Livermore rancher John Bettencourt said, according to the Mercury News.