After years of protest, Warkworth Rodeo shut down by 'bad traffic'
Tuesday, 6 December 2022
The controversial Warkworth New Year’s Day rodeo has been cancelled for the second year in a row – with organisers blaming the town’s infamous bad traffic.
However, protester groups are sceptical that it was the so-called “holiday highway” that bucked the event.
The rodeo is a local tradition, having been held for 60 years, and protest group Direct Animal Action has been sending protesters to stand outside for the last seven.
Campaigner Shelley Knight said she was “very pleased” this year’s event had been cancelled, no matter what the reason – but she’s not convinced it was traffic.
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**
She believes that organisers have seen the writing on the wall after council recommended to the Rodney Local Board not to enter into a long-term lease of the Warkworth Showgrounds with the event.
The Rodney Local Parks Management Plan is being reviewed, and council staff said decisions about whether to continue the rodeo on public land long term should be made after consultation is complete.
“If that’s the case, then perhaps the rodeo is just trying to save face by blaming the roadworks,” Knight said.
Warkworth Rodeo Club secretary Paul Manton told Stuff that was “total bollocks”.
“We were going to do the event, and we had permission, and we’re not for various reasons, and it had nothing to do with protesters or leases.”
In a statement online, the club announced that it would be cancelling the 2023 show after learning that the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway would not be completed before the holidays.
“The Matakana Link Road and Dome Valley projects are also not complete, and all this terminating at the gates of the showgrounds will potentially end in gridlock. All this will adversely affect the ability for us to hold a well attended, financial rodeo,” it said.
The announcement was met by incredulity by rodeo fans commenting: “It’s bloody grid locked every year! That’s no excuse why the rodeo should be cancelled, that’s BS… Just saying.”
Meanwhile, Knight presented to the Rodney Local Board again on Wednesday and hopes that new chair Brent Bailey will be more willing to implement change than former chairs Phelan Pirrie and Beth Houlbrooke.
Knight is hoping that the event having been cancelled two years in a row might finally “tip it over” but she isn’t holding her breath.
Last year the Warkworth Rodeo Club bought a farm on Wayby Station Road near Wellsford, where it could possibly hold the event even if it lost its lease with the council.
Debra Ashton of animal welfare group SAFE has been campaigning for an end to all rodeos in Aotearoa.
Last year SAFE went to the High Court in a bid to have rodeos banned under current animal welfare legislation. The judged ruled that the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee should publicly consult on the issue.
Ashton hopes the consultation will result in a ban or at minimum a change to the animal welfare code on rodeos. Either way SAFE will continue its fight, she said.
“Even if an animal survives, we believe rodeo causes them pain and suffering. In this day and age there isn’t a social licence for using animals for entertainment.”