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Rodney Local Board member Colin Smith has come out fiercely in support of Warkworth Rodeo, following doubts about its continued use of a Council venue and ongoing protests by animal rights activists.
Local Board chair Beth Houlbrooke says the Board has warned Warkworth Rodeo that there is no guarantee that it can continue to use the area next door to the Warkworth Showgrounds after 2018 due to competing claims for the use of the space.
Ms Houlbrooke says sports facilities at the showgrounds are at capacity, the pony club would like more room and there are also suggestions the venue could be the site of a new gym, a multi-sports centre and a park ‘n’ ride facility.
She says the pressures on the land will only become more acute as Warkworth’s population expands.
She denies a suggestion that the rodeo was being considered for exclusion from the site because of claims about animal cruelty.
Mr Smith is adamant the rodeo should stay and have priority use of the venue.
He says it’s a tragedy that rodeos have been successively squeezed out of other parts of Auckland such as Western Springs, Kumeu and Pukekohe.
“I’m a very firm advocate that the rodeo should stay. It’s part of Warkworth’s history. We should have at least one rodeo in the Auckland Supercity so that people can come to understand something of rural life and enjoy the day,” he says. “If we take out the rodeo, the rural culture in Warkworth is stuffed.”
He says it’s absurd to suggest the pony club would be disadvantaged by the presence of the rodeo since they can use the rodeo’s facilities during most of the year when the rodeo is not being held.
“I feel there is plenty of room in that park for everybody,” he says.
Warkworth Rodeo arena director Gary Jackson says he finds it hard to understand the competing claims for the land argument.
The rodeo uses one hectare tucked away in a corner of the grounds between the rugby club car park, the pony club and a creek.
“It’s very hard to think of a competing deal,” he says.
“And if customary rights have anything to do with it, we have been here the longest – we were here before the rugby club.”
Meanwhile, Direct Animal Action has promised it will again protest at the Warkworth Rodeo when it takes place on January 1 next year.
Spokesperson Apollo Taito says the number of protestors has been growing each year and he is expecting a good turnout.
There were about 70 protesters last year and about 50 the year before.
Protesters will hold large “STOP” signs at the entrance of the event calling on the government to ban rodeo from New Zealand.
Apollo says the Warkworth Rodeo is the first one on the rodeo calendar and a good opportunity to make the point that rodeos are wrong.
“People have had enough of the shocking footage that emerges each rodeo season of animals abused and distressed in the arena,” he says.
Gary Jackson denies that rodeos are cruel to animals.
He says animal rights groups have made literally hundreds of submissions to the Ministry of Primary Industries and local councils alleging animal cruelty and calling for an end to rodeos but none of these had been upheld.
