Battle rages at City Hall over proposed rodeo ban

proposed rodeo – Hundreds of rodeo supporters and animal welfare advocates packed Los Angeles City Hall Tuesday over a draft ordinance that would ban rodeo events—only to find the measure still hasn’t been placed on the City Council agenda. The fight expanded into a wider disp

For the third day in a row, downtown Los Angeles felt like a stage—cowboy hats mixed with animal welfare pins, chants and counter-chants spilling into the corridors of City Hall.

On Tuesday, rodeo lovers and animal welfare advocates descended on Los Angeles to argue over a draft ordinance that would ban rodeo-style events within the city. But the confrontation carried an extra sting: the ordinance wasn’t even scheduled to be heard.

The proposal has been in motion before, but it hasn’t reached a final vote. In 2023, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to support the drafting of a ban by the city attorney. The drafting itself was completed in 2024. and the proposed rule will expire at the end of the month if it isn’t brought to the City Council for a vote. Still. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado—chair of the Arts. Parks. Libraries. and Community Enrichment Committee that oversees rodeos—has yet to introduce the ordinance.

Jurado’s spokeswoman, Alejandra Alarcon, said her office has been working carefully since Jurado took office. “Because this item was introduced before Councilmember Jurado took office. our office has taken a thorough and deliberate approach to reviewing the proposal and meeting with community stakeholders to fully understand its history. cultural context. and potential impacts. ” Alarcon said. She added, “We do not have a confirmed meeting date for this item at this time.”.

At the center of the draft is how the ordinance defines “rodeos.” Under the proposed law. rodeos would be spectator events that include bareback and saddle bronc riding. bull riding. calf roping. steer wrestling. team roping. or any other event or activity that involves physically taking down an animal. roping an animal. or attempting to ride a bucking animal.

Support and pushback weren’t only about what would be banned; they were also about what would be spared. The ordinance includes language that excludes equestrian events. as well as American Indian. Native American. Indigenous Rodeo. Mexican Charreria and Escaramuza events that don’t involve the activities cited in the law. For example. trick roping performed by horse riders that don’t actually lasso animals or choreographed riding to music would not be included in the ban.

As the public lined up to speak at an arts and parks subcommittee meeting Tuesday morning, the crowd’s split was immediate. Some urged Jurado to act and introduce the ordinance for a vote. Others urged her to drop it.

Carlos Madriz. who identified himself as a man who believes improvements are possible. said. “Obviously. there are improvements that can be made. and there are definitely collateral damages.” He said rodeo supporters were present “to show you that we are also people that take care of our of animals. and we care for their well-being. and we do it with dignity.”.

Jane Velez-Mitchell. a former KCAL reporter. spoke from the other side of the issue. calling the practice cruelty dressed up as celebration. “Torturing animals in rodeos is not a celebration of Latino culture, that is an insult,” she said. She referenced Los Angeles’s Latino population, saying, “Almost half of the population of Los Angeles is Latino. 1.8 million people.” Then she challenged the framing of rodeos as tradition: “How many of them do you see riding around on bulls and wearing cowboy hats and sombreros?. This is cynical political theater. I dare say most of the sombreros in Los Angeles are in this room right now.”.

Her argument also pulled in immigration enforcement. Velez-Mitchell said she was responding to news reports she described as showing U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses rodeo events to recruit agents. She said that in 2008. Border Patrol began sponsoring the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). described as the largest competitive bull-riding league in the world. She also said that during President Trump’s first term. the administration signed a $1.5-million deal with the organization. and that in 2019. the administration allotted $3 million annually for five years.

Velez-Mitchell cited photos from PBR events showing bullfighters wearing shirts with “Protected by U.S. Border Patrol” emblazoned on their backs.

“Why would Los Angeles provide a venue and a platform for ICE to do its dirty work? ICE out, rodeos out, pass this out of committee. Let the people of Los Angeles have a cruelty-free city,” she said.

The debate did not end there. Velez-Mitchell’s remarks were met with clarification from the floor and within the wider discussion of responsibilities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. but they are separate agencies. ICE does not sponsor PBR events or recruit agents at those events.

By Tuesday afternoon, the same fight had spilled into a full council meeting, where demonstrators on both sides showed up. People wearing cowboy hats and sombreros peppered the audience chamber, and supporters and opponents lined up at the microphone to make their case.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez addressed concerns about ICE at the end of the meeting. holding up a flier that had been sent to people in her district that claimed ICE was going to rodeo events to target immigrants. Rodriguez said it was infuriating that opponents to rodeos would try to incite fear. “It’s exploitative and frankly disrespectful and infuriating that that is kind of a last-ditch effort to suggest to my community … that they’ve been wrong the whole time,” she said.

“I look forward to having a robust and honest conversation about how we actually protect what is culturally very dear to members of my community,” Rodriguez added.

A vaquero and community organizer. Samuel Brown Vazquez. said he remembered when City Council members first discussed the rodeo ban in 2023. At the time, he said he believed the community would be consulted if the matter came up again. He said that didn’t happen. and on Tuesday he and a dozen other members of the charro community came out to speak against the ban.

“This is low-hanging fruit and that’s why they went after us,” Vazquez said. “If this moves forward, this is the end of our ability to continue to practice.”

Animal welfare arguments remained central too. Matt Rossell. a member of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. said he raised a recent incident at the Orange County Fair in which a bucking bull suffered a fatal injury. Rossell said the accident wasn’t reported to the state, as is required by law. California requires that a veterinarian be present or nearby and on call. Injury reports must be sent to the state’s Veterinary Medical Board.

Los Angeles wasn’t alone in the question of what to do with rodeos. Other jurisdictions throughout the state and nation have put limits on or banned rodeos, including San Francisco, Irvine and Pasadena, as well as Pittsburgh; Baltimore County, Md.; Leesburg, Va.; and Fort Wayne, Ind.

In addition, a 2022 Times review of those reports found that since 2001—when the veterinarian law went into effect—more than 125 animal injuries were reported. The reports were written by attending or on-call veterinarians and submitted to the California Veterinary Medical Board.

Those injury reports. Rossell said through the record he discussed. documented injuries including superficial abrasions suffered as panicked animals rushed out of their chutes. as well as crushed skulls. broken legs. gored flanks and snapped spines. Experts. activists and records prepared by veterinarians at events say these numbers probably are conservative and underrepresent the extent of injuries that happen at rodeos.

The fight at City Hall has become less about paperwork than about what happens if the clock runs out. With the ordinance drafted in 2024 set to expire at the end of the month unless it reaches the City Council for a vote. the crowd’s pressure—whether to act. to revise. or to stop the measure entirely—hangs over every minute of the process.

Adding to the procedural tension, a new motion introduced by Councilmember Bob Blumenfeld—who represents the west San Fernando Valley—would direct the city attorney to apply the ban only to events that exceed 1,000 spectators.

Los Angeles City Hall rodeo ban animal welfare ICE Border Patrol City Council Ysabel Jurado Hugo Soto-Martinez Marqueece Harris-Dawson Bob Blumenfeld Monica Rodriguez Jane Velez-Mitchell Animal Legal Defense Fund