Rodeo comes to town for 2 sold-out shows as LA inches closer to a ban

As Los Angeles moves closer to banning certain rodeo activities in the city, the 40th anniversary of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo is set for Saturday and Sunday in the nearby City of Industry.

The rodeo will have shows at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Industry Hills Expo Center, and tickets for both days were sold out as of Thursday.

The Bill Pickett website says its rodeos include events such as bareback riding, bronc riding, bull riding, bull dogging, calf roping and “jr. and ladies breakaway roping,” all of which would be banned under a draft ordinance making its way through the Los Angeles City Council.

The L.A. ordinance would not apply to Industry or other LA County areas, and there are currently no plans for a similar county-wide ban.

RELATED: Traveling rodeo museum that teaches Black cowboy, cowgirl history stops in Inglewood

According to a draft of the ordinance that was posted online Thursday, it would be unlawful to “organize or engage in any of the following activities for live public amusement or entertainment: bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, or any other activity that involves physically wrestling an animal to the ground, roping an animal, or attempting to ride and remain mounted on a bucking animal.”

The proposed law maintains that “certain animal exhibition activities, including those commonly performed at rodeos, involve the aggressive riding, roping, and/or wrestling of steers, calves, bulls, horses and other animals for live public entertainment and often cause harm and injuries to the animals involved, including sprains and broken limbs.”

The council was set to pass the ban last December, but Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez successfully argued for an amendment calling on 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 activities.

The draft released Thursday includes the following passage: “This section shall not be construed to prohibit an equestrian, cultural, or other event, including an event described as a rodeo, that does not include any of the activities prohibited under Subdivision (b) and that is in compliance with all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations.”

Rodriguez, however, was not happy with the new draft.

“Yesterday, the City Attorney’s Office released the proposed Rodeo Ban Ordinance. The City Council made a commitment to provide the equestrian community a seat at the table when drafting this ordinance that disproportionately affects BIPOC communities. Once again, the community was excluded and this was done in the dark, without the engagement of the Mexican Charro community, Native American and Black Cowboy communities that this threatens to criminalize,” Rodriguez said in a statement provided to City News Service.

“This ordinance and its abrupt release underscores the lack of equity and inclusion in the legislative process. I will continue to do everything in my power to rectify the continued wrongs in this ordinance to prevent criminalizing cultural activities.”

The revised ordinance will next come before the Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee before moving to the full council for final approval. The committee’s next scheduled meeting is on Aug. 7, but it was not immediately clear if the proposed ban will be on the agenda.

The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo also touts its cultural tradition. Its website says the tour “celebrates and honors Black Cowboys and Cowgirls and their contributions to building the west. We highlight the irrefutable global appeal of Black Cowboys and Cowgirls in the West and the stories behind a sub-culture that is still strong today. BPIR also serves as a cultural event and opportunity for families to enjoy and embrace the cowboy culture, while being educated and entertained with reenactments, history highlights, and western adventure.”

The Industry Hills Expo Center also hosts the annual Industry Hills Charity Pro Rodeo each fall, which organizers say has financially supported community causes for nearly four decades.

But animal rights advocates say cultural tradition should not be used as a defense for what they see as animal cruelty.

“We believe the rodeo is not a sport but rather an archaic cruel show business that inherently abuses animals while it masquerades as entertainment,” the local group Last Chance for Animals told City News Service. “The rodeo industry typically leans into the cultural and historical background argument, but this fight is not about culture. This is about animal abuse.”

Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who has spearheaded the effort to ban rodeo activities across Los Angeles since 2021, has said previously that “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.”

Representatives for the Bill Pickett Rodeo did not immediately respond to questions about the alleged cruelty of some of its events, but defenders of the use of tools such as spurs, straps and electric prods to make horses and bulls buck say the animals are already inclined to buck, and the tools just give them a cue.

Sean Gleason, CEO and commissioner of the Professional Bull Riders, which hosts an annual event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, told CNS in 2022 that the proposed ordinance was “unnecessary legislation,” and called the animals in rodeo and bull riding events “the real rock stars of the sport, (who) get the best care and live a great, long life — four to five times longer than animals not fortunate enough to compete.”

But animal rights activists counter that such events are inherently abusive, as they’re predicated on the visible torment of unwilling animals.

Calf roping — in which baby cows are forcibly tackled to the ground and hog-tied — is an event many activists consider exceptionally cruel. A calf was killed at the Industry Hills rodeo in 2015 after her leg was shattered during a roping event.

“Anyone with a heart knows it’s wrong to clothesline a baby animal, body slam it to the ground, tie its legs so it can’t move, and drag it by the neck,” according to Steve Hindi, founder and president of the national group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness.

“If this were done to a puppy or kitten, the offender would understandably be charged with a crime and likely be jailed. In rodeos, however, it’s called calf roping, and supporters claim it’s a sport.”