Rodeo's last ride?

Broadcast: 30/09/2005

Reporter: Paul McCarthy

This weekend the 6th annual Marrabel rodeo will be held in the State's north, but will it be the last? With the State Government reviewing animal cruelty laws, animal rights activists and the RSPCA are campaigning strongly for all rodeos to be banned. As Paul McCarthy reports, it is becoming an increasingly bitter fight as organisers say they are fighting to protect their outback heritage.

MALE: It is very important to a lot of people, and particularly the country people. It is a country spirit thing.

JEANIE WALKER ('SAY NO TO RODEO' CAMPAIGNER): Rodeos have got inherent cruelty and that isn't going to go away. The fact is you have got terrified animals, you are hurting them, you are scaring them, that is never going to change.

PAUL MCCARTHY: For nearly 70 years the Marrabel rodeo has been a popular fixture of the country calendar. Locals say it is the life blood of their small country town. But behind the costumes and the clowns, animal activists say there is a far different story. More blood sport than life blood.

JEANIE WALKER: The minute I walked through the gate I was horrified by what I saw. There were animals thrashing around with their legs caught in shoots, injuries, a horse died. They say that she broke her fetlock now but it looked more like a spinal injury at the time.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Jeanie Walker has launched a personal campaign to take on the State's rodeos, starting with Marrabel. Last year she took her handicam along.

JEANIE WALKER: This is what happens when you have got highly strung animals like horses and you are putting them in a situation where you are putting things tightly around their flank area. They are obviously very scared, and that causes the other horse to get upset as well and that one goes down, and then you have got the judge over here who is an official and supposed to know animals, and his idea of the best way to get the horse down is to stab it in the rib cage with a clip board.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Jeanie has posted her footage on the internet and sent DVD copies to several politicians and she wants to make a rodeo ban a state election issue threatening to run in marginal seats.

JOHN STRACHAN (RSPCA PRESIDENT): We think they are unnecessary in today's community and a complete ban would be what we are looking for.

PAUL MCCARTHY: The push to ban rodeos has the support of the RSPCA and that pressure has seen the state government include them in its current review of animal cruelty laws, but the Environment Minister John Hill is shying away from taking sides at this stage.

JOHN HILL (ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE MINISTER): Some animal activists would ban fishing for example and other activities as well, so we have got to balance their very strong views with the rights of the rest of the community to enjoy their traditional activities.

PAUL MCCARTHY: As the government ponders its decision, a crucial test case is due in court in just over a week. The RSPCA is using some of Jeanie Walker's footage to prosecute the Marrbel rodeo over incidents last year, including the use of cattle prods.

JEANIE WALKER: They are using this on the bull's anal area, they are using it into its genitals. The prod is not supposed to be used on an animal excessively and this would have to constitute excessively.

CHRIS BOXALL (MARRABEL RODEO SPOKESMAN): The use of cattle prods is clearly set out in the code of practice and we operate under that code of practice.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Do they hurt the animals?

CHRIS BOXALL: No, we don't believe they do. The voltage given off by cattle prod is very similar to an electric fence and they are very commonly used through agricultural circles.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Up in Marrabel the debate has the cowboys seeing red. They say the incidents of death and injury is very low compared with steeple chasing and other horse events and they operate under a tough code of practice negotiated with the RSPCA and the government.

CHRIS BOXALL: The RSPCA are present, we have a veterinary surgeon on the grounds throughout the day and it also states in the code of practice that if any mistreatment of animals is occurring it should be reported to a rodeo organiser immediately.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Claims of animal cruelty at rodeos is nothing new but what's changed is the protesters are now armed with modern technology such as handicams. Protesters are now filming inside events with high powered zoom lenses. But it is making for some heated showdowns as this lady found out at the Marrabel bull ride last March.

CHRIS BOXALL: The situation was that she was in an unauthorised area. There was clearly signs there that suggest that she shouldn't have been there and we can't allow to have people in an unauthorised area that aren't competent.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Marrabel organisers say they don't condone this action and the cowboy involved was suspended. But the obvious anger is a sign of frustration, a feeling that city slickers have no understanding of the realities of country life.

CHRIS BOXALL: We are all farmers associated with the rodeo, we all run stock of our own, we understand stock, we understand what cruelty is, and we don't believe that that's happening here at all. This is what we call our hall of fame.

PAUL MCCARTHY: Chris Boxall is part of the third generation of Marrabel farmers involved in the Marrabel rodeo and is part of its history. In its heyday in the 40s and 50s, huge crowds would flock to Marrabel, the best riders in Australia would be among them wanting to ride a local brumby called Curio.

CHRIS BOXALL: In those years after 45 we drew some very big crowds, 16 18,000 people came along to see Curio at her very best, a very popular sport then.

PAUL MCCARTHY: But times are changing and for the people of Marrabel that makes the rodeo even more important.

CHRIS BOXALL: I am very proud to be an Australian and very proud of my heritage and most of the events that you see here on the day of the rodeo relate in some aspect to our heritage.

JEANIE WALKER: I am country bred and this isn't a strong link. This is not how normal farmers would treat their animals. This is just a purely glorified Gladiator style entertainment.

PAUL MCCARTHY: The RSPCA says the reality is we have left behind the Man from Snowy River days and it is a matter of when, rather than if, rodeos will be consigned to history.

JOHN STRACHAN: There may be a change, it mightn't be very quickly, but there will be a change of entry.