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LA To Consider Ban On Rodeo 'Tools Of Torment' As Soon As January
Alan de Souza of Brazil looks on from the chute area during the PBR: Iron Cowboy at Staples Center on February 23, 2019.
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Topline:
A proposed law that would ban certain tools that cause animals “torment or suffering” in rodeo competitions is on track for a January vote.
What it would ban: "Prohibited devices include, but are not limited to, electric prods or shocking devices, flank or bucking straps, wire tie-downs, sharpened or fixed spurs rowels, and lariats or lassos,” reads the draft ordinance, which was approved by a key committee on Wednesday.
Are there precedents? L.A.’s proposed law is modeled after the nation’s first ordinance outlawing rodeo competition entirely, passed in Pittsburgh in 1992. Other Southern California rodeo laws, like in Laguna Woods (2000), Pasadena (2001), Chino Hills (2010), and Irvine (2011) also explicitly ban rodeo events. L.A.’s would not, at least in writing.
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What's next: The January vote. Now that the motion has passed the committee, “[t]here’s nothing that should stop us from schedule,” said the motion's co-author, Councilmember Bob Blumenfield.
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