The buck stops here

THE Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) is pushing for an enforceable code of practice for rodeos to address animal welfare.

Following an incident in the Northern Territory where a horse with a broken leg was left without veterinary assistance, the President of the AVA Dr Kersti Seksel said the public should not accept the continuation of rodeos where professional care was not immediately provided.

"Incidents such as the one in the Northern Territory recently are simply unacceptable – rodeos should not go ahead where a veterinarian is not present," Dr Seksel said.

Following an example set by South Australia, The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in Blackall are developing an enforceable code of practice for Queensland rodeos, but whether or not the attendance of a veterinarian will be made compulsory is not yet known.

Currently the Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) has a Voluntary Code of Conduct which recommends a veterinarian attend.

Executive Chairman of APRA John Osborne said while he supports the presence of a veterinarian, the incidence of animal injury is so small that the cost of getting a vet to attend in remote towns can be a problem.

"I think a vet should be on call and even in attendance if possible, but it just doesn’t wash with Queensland because of logistics," Mr Osborne said.

"Most of the time there are no serious injuries."

A 1994 survey of APRA rodeos found instances where the assistance of a veterinarian was required because the injury to the animal was of less severity were even less at 0.036 per cent or one injury every 2,810 times an animal was used.

However Dr Seksel said a veterinarian ‘on call’ is not good enough and logistics and financial costs are no excuse.

"If you’re four hours away, that’s not really on call, you need to have someone there to administer pain relief and do whatever needs to be done," Dr Sekel said.

"If they can put an event on, organise stock, riders, advertisement and get people through the gates, they should be able to organise a veterinarian.
"The welfare of the animals is what is important, it should have nothing to do with how much it costs."

But according to Mr Osborne the cost would probably affect local charities the hardest because 90 per cent of rodeos in Australia give their profit to charity.

"The rodeo business is a charity driven industry and to make unreasonable demands about paying a veterinarian to sit there all day is only going to take money away from the charities."

The recent RM Williams Longreach Muster held on September 16, gave donations to the Royal Flying Doctor and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame.

Rodeo co-ordinator for the Longreach Muster Glenn Morgan said there was a veterinarian present at the event however he could not supply a name and RM Williams would not comment.

Dr Peter Johnston of Longreach Veterinary Service said neither he nor the other local veterinarian had been contacted by RM Williams.

He said he believes a veterinarian should be placed on call in the event they might be needed.
Despite the differences of opinion, Mr Osbourne said that APRA and AVA have worked closely over many years to ensure the welfare of rodeo stock.

"What a lot of people don’t understand is that the stock is really valuable and contractors don’t want them hurt," Mr Osborne said.

Glenn Morgon agreed that times have changed.

"Thirty years ago conditions were a little lax but now we have rodeos in all of the entertainment centres and have taken it to a new audience so the stock have to be looked after and look good," Mr Morgan said.

"What happened in the Northern Territory was a one-in 10,000 case."