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Rodney Local Board has again been urged to act to prevent rodeos being held at the Warkworth Showgrounds.
Animal rights group Direct Animal Action members Romina Marinkovich and Roz Holland asked members at this month’s business meeting not to renew Warkworth Rodeo Club’s lease for its events and activities at the site.
The deputation followed on from the presentation of a 5000-signature petition to the board Direct Animal Action in November, 2020.
On Council advice, the board has already deferred a decision on renewing the rodeo club’s lease, as well as that of Warkworth Pony Club, until after the adoption of the Rodney Local Parks Management Plan, which is due to take place sometime after February.
The draft plan says one of the objectives of granting community leases is to “support activities that meet community needs, enhance environmental outcomes and activate and enhance parks and people’s experience of them”.
Marinkovich said rodeos didn’t align with those values, had no relevance to good farming practices and did not fit in with changing needs of the community.
“Overall, we support the draft Rodney Local Parks Management Plan, but we do not support Rodney Local Board and Auckland Council renewing the lease to Warkworth Rodeo Club,” she said.
“They have lost their social licence. And the rodeo stockades are an eyesore.”
Holland pointed out that Council was recommending ending greyhound racing in its plan for Manukau Sports Bowl and replacing it with an athletics track.
“Rodeos are entertainment for people, not of benefit to animals.”
Warkworth member Michelle Carmichael asked if there were rodeo activities that Direct Animal Action did not object to and if some kind of compromise could be reached.
Holland said some activities caused more harm than others, but all activities were harmful to a degree.
Board chair Brent Bailey thanked them both for attending and for their input into the draft local parks plan.
Warkworth Rodeo Club has cancelled its event scheduled for New Year’s Day, citing roadworks and traffic congestion as the reason (MM, Dec 5).
Meanwhile, later in the same meeting, board members voted to allow Cowboy Challenge North Auckland to site a shipping container near the rodeo grounds for the storage of equipment. Cowboy Challenge is a riding competition designed to test the partnership of horses and riders through negotiating a series of obstacles, such as walking over unusual surfaces or through a line of pool noodles.
