THE CASE AGAINST A RODEO
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The National Sporting Club intend to hold a Rodeo in London during this summer, and the R.S.P.C.A. intend to do their utmost to prevent such an unsporting exhibition from . being held. A Bill which, if it is passed, will have this effect has been introduced by Sir Robert Gower, M.P., and it comes up for second reading on April 13th.
When the P.S.P.C.A. protested against the holding of a Rodeo in 1924 the producer accused the Society of being • " unsportsmanlike and un-English," and said that the show would appeal to the best sporting instincts of a British crowd. At the second performance a steer had a leg broken. There were shouts of protest, and the audience demanded that the performance should be stopped at once. It was stopped, and that particular part of it—steer roping—was not repeated.
At subsequent performances there were other unfortunate "accidents." In bull dogging (or steer wrestling) two steers had their necks broken (one after it had been thrown several times), horns were broken, steers bled from the nostrils, and so on. R.S.P.C.A. inspectors were not allowed to examine the animals. Eventually the R.S.P.C.A. summoned the promoter of the Rodeo and some of those who took part in it. The case came before a Bench of eleven magistrates and, by a majority of one (six to five), the summonses were dismissed.
Commenting on the result, the Solicitors' Journal of July 12th, 1924, said : " This case stands to the credit of the R.S.P.C.A., and on the well-known facts as to the Rodeo Exhibition there is no doubt the summonses would have succeeded had the justices applied the law." Thus, although the law was not applied as it should have been—according to this expert opinion—five out of the eleven magistrates were ready to apply it.
Cruelty was certainly apparent to the spectators. One paper said that the Rodeo sailed as near as it could to a bull-fight without actually being it. Another paper, after describing bull dogging as " a heart-rending stupidity," added : " The same degree of cruelty towards his moke would have landed any coster in London in prison." That was quite true.
The Sporting Life said : " It is not sport . . . The lassoing and throwing of domestic animals more or less tame in a comparatively confined space like the Wembley Stadium, big though it is, is comparable with the coursing of rabbits in a field in which all the bolt-holes are stopped—. the kind of sport' which is forbidden by law in this count ry."
Such is the exhibition which the National Sporting Club proposes to present in London this summer. Since the policy of the R.S.P.C.A. is to secure fair play for animals, the Society will try, to the utmost limit of its powers, to prevent the holding of a Rodeo anywhere, at any time, by
anyone and, with that object in view, appeals for help to the animal-loving public. Copies of the petition in support of Sir Robert Gower's Bill may be had from the R.S.P.C.A., 105 Jermyn Street, London, S.W. 1.—I am, Sir, &c.,
FERGUS MACCUNIst,
R.S.P.C.A., 105 Jermyn Street, S.W. 1. Chief Secretary.
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