'I won’t stop until rodeo stops': A decade of protesting rodeo in New Zealand

Friday, 25 November 2022

Lynn Charlton, started protesting at rodeos in 2013. She has copped a lot of abuse in that decade, she says.

Lynn Charlton’s is well-known in rodeo circles.

Not because of her skills on a horse, but the decade she’s spent protesting the “abusive and cruel nature” the sport displays.

In that time, Charlton says she has been called every name under the sun, threatened verbally and through private messages on social media, and has been physically grabbed at venues.

But the animosity she’s experienced hasn’t dampened her drive. “I won’t stop until rodeo stops.”

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Action from the 2022 Winchester Rodeo in South Canterbury.

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Rodeo New Zealand president Lyal Cocks said protesters were welcome at rodeo events.

“There is always going to be some element of the population who don't like the sport and are going to be protesting it.”

Rodeo NZ had talked to its community about showing respect towards those protesting, he said.

Charlton’s activism began in 2013 when she went along to one of New Zealand’s biggest rodeos, in Warkworth, and found the atmosphere “disturbing”.

“One of the things I found difficult was the noise. The crowd screaming and cheering at these animals in pain.

Rodeo New Zealand president Lyal Cocks acknowledges not everyone supports rodeo, but says the sport is “legal and strong”.

“The crowd was getting off on the terror of the animals, their sheer panic and the crowd was loving it. I found the sadism of that awful. I found it psychopathic.”

The sport was banned in the UK in 1934 and Charlton believed it needed to be banned in New Zealand too. Rodeo could not survive, even with changes, she said.

In July 2021, lobby group Safe and the New Zealand Animal Law Association (NZALA) went to the High Court to try to stop rodeos, but Justice Peter Churchman acknowledged he did not have the expertise to assess each rodeo event. The court said the proper place to challenge the legality of rodeo would be during a consultation process run by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee.

Safe chief executive Debra Ashton said she still believed a ban on rodeo was possible.

“We won’t give up on the animals. We will continue to work with our litigation partners from the New Zealand Animal Law Association to follow the court’s decision to challenge the legality of rodeo.”

Cocks said the court hearing was “a waste of everyone's time and money”.

“The court says the code and sport is legal, and the applicants have backed off. It is the best thing to come out of the hearing.

“The sport is legal and strong.”

The last full Wānaka rodeo 2019 brought in 3000 people and just 10 protestors.

Damien O’Connor, Minister of Agriculture, says the Government will include rodeo in next year’s animal welfare review.

Methven and Winchester rodeos drew full houses over this year’s Labour Weekend and had no protestors.

Cocks said the sport adhered to animal welfare standards more than ever. Over the five years he had been in the job, Rodeo NZ had tightened up some rules.

The length of run in certain events had been shortened, contestants now had to qualify, and the criteria for disqualification if the animal was not treated or handled correctly had been tightened.

But while Safe, NZALA and rodeo protesters maintained that animals were harmed or distressed during events, Cocks said that was not correct.

“There’s never any reports of pain or stress on the animals,” he said.

Rodeos at Winchester and Methven both drew a full house this year, without any protestors.

“Yes we do have accidents, and we have reports for them… these reports are very low.”

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor acknowledged there was public concern over the use of animals at rodeo.

However, Justice Churchman’s ruling meant the requirements in the rodeo code would remain unchanged until an animal welfare review – due to go out for public consultation next year – was completed, he said.

“While there are no current plans to ban rodeos in New Zealand, it’s my expectation that all rodeo events and participants comply fully with their obligations under the Animal Welfare Act,” O’Connor said.

When asked about the treatment of animals at rodeo, the National Party appeared to lean on both sides of the fence.

Charlton says she won’t stop protesting until rodeo stops, despite being abused and “man-handled” at different events.

The party’s animal welfare spokesperson, Nicola Griggs, said she was “largely satisfied” the appropriate level of veterinarian oversight was present at rodeos.

“However, injuries do occur and, when they do, I view that as a failing of the competitors and organisers.”

Since Charlton began her quest in 2013, she believed political parties had not stepped in where they should. She also felt farmers, who believed in treating animals well, should speak up about the damage rodeo did to their reputation.

Charlton said protesting itself had become a dangerous sport. She copped abuse at every event she went to, she said.

At the 2017 Methven Rodeo, she was verbally abused and intimated by a rodeo enthusiast who got in her face and the lens of her camera.

“A woman came across stood across my camera and was shouting irrationally and telling us we better not come back tomorrow; she would be waiting for us.”

Before protesting at the Mid-Northern Rodeo near Whangarei, she was messaged and called a “c…” and warned to watch out because a bow and arrow would be waiting for her.

At a South Island rodeo, the announcer singled her out over the loudspeaker so the crowd could boo at her and her protesting friends. Charlton said this was bullying.

At the Paeroa Bull Ride in 2014 she was “manhandled” by an “angry veteran cowboy”.

“This older man appears with white hair, and he looked really aggressive… ‘You shouldn't be round here,’ he says. Then he grabbed me by my shoulder.

“I was shaking like a leaf. I had total jelly legs.

“This other guy come over, and he was so threatening. This cowboy’s eyes were white, and he was enraged.”

Charlton said she knew she was a sitting duck at such events, but she would not give up.

“In a way, anyone protesting is a bit of a watchdog. We are showing the public what happens, and the lies rodeo are willing to tell, [like the claim] ‘the animals love it’.”