By Jose Herrera
City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) – City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez criticized a noted Los Angeles animal rights advocate Tuesday, June 9, for using the fear of federal immigration enforcement to push for a ban on rodeos in the city.
Rodriguez, who represents the Seventh Council District, which encompasses neighborhoods in the northeast San Fernando Valley, has defended her constituents – predominately Latino and equestrian communities – in opposing the proposed ban in an effort to ensure certain cultural activities and events are not impacted.
Supporters of the ban, meanwhile, insist that the practices they want to prohibit are inherently cruel and abusive to animals.
On Tuesday, animal advocates once again urged the City Council’s Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee to agendize and advance a proposed rodeo ban before it expires July 18, and forward it to the full council for consideration.
Eric Shabsis, for Last Chance for Animals, asked the committee to schedule the ban at its next meeting.
“Los Angeles has a proud history of being at the forefront of human rights and animal welfare legislation. Our city welcomes the tradition of Charreria and the equestrian activities that are important to Mexican culture,” Shabsis said.
“What Los Angeles opposes is corporate rodeo, which profits off terrorizing people and animals. Corporate rodeos bring with it ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] … the same masked units that terrorized Los Angeles over the past year,” Shabsis added.
However, Rodriguez sharply criticized those sentiments.
“It’s exploitive, frankly disrespectful and infuriating that this kind of a last-ditch-effort to suggest to my community why they’ve been wrong the whole time,” she said. “It’s infuriating that there would be an attempt at exploiting that, and we don’t forget. We don’t forget because our community continues to endure these types of assaults every day.”
Former KCAL news reporter Jane Velez-Mitchell, a Latina and animal rights advocate, alleged that ICE is going into rodeos to recruit agents, who will then go on to detain Latinos suspected of being in the United States illegally.
“Why would Los Angeles provide a venue and a platform for ICE to do its dirty work? ICE out. Rodeos out. Let the people of Los Angeles have a cruelty-free city,” Mitchell said.
Some residents who opposed the proposed ban traveled to City Hall from Rodriguez’s Seventh District, including Shadow Hills resident and horse owner Jackie Gamble.
“I’m not a rodeo participant myself, but I know how important it is to these Mexican American riders, who are the fastest growing equestrian rider group we have in California,” Gamble said.
“Rodeo can be done right with these equine humane officers that are present at the big rodeos. Let’s have them present at all rodeos, because they’re what keep us safe and prove that we’re taking good care of our horses,” Gamble added.
In December 2023, the City Council approved a motion by Councilman Bob Blumenfield that directed the City Attorney’s Office to draft a proposed ban on rodeos in city limits.
The ordinance defines a rodeo as an “exhibition, performance or competition for live public entertainment.” Specifically, any events that are outlined in the state’s law on the same issue, including bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping or other events or activities that involve physically taking down an animal, roping an animal or attempting to ride a bucking animal.
Rodriguez introduced an amendment for potential exemptions for cultural activities, such as American Indian, Native American, Indigenous Rodeo, Mexican Charreria and Escaramuza events that do not involve the prohibited aforementioned activities.
For example, the trick roping that is performed by horse riders without lassoing animals or choreographed riding to music would not fit the definition of rodeo.
Since then, the matter has been on hold with supporters of the ban waiting on elected officials to take the next steps.
A representative for the City Attorney’s Office confirmed that the ordinance was drafted and transmitted in July 2024 for committee consideration.
Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, who was elected in 2024, serves as the chair of the Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee. The draft ordinance is expected to come to her committee first before moving to the full council.
“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,” according to a previous statement from Jurado’s office.
“We do not have a confirmed meeting date for this item at this time,” the statement continued.
Meanwhile, Blumenfield, who is leaving the council due to term limits, reiterated that his goal is to prevent animal cruelty, as “has been known to happen at large rodeos.”
“Contrary to opponents’ mischaracterizations, this draft ordinance specifically has nothing to do with horses. It has been tailored to be narrow in scope, and the council unanimously approved directing the city attorney to draft it,” Blumenfield said in a previous statement.
Critics of the proposed ban include the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit, which conducts an annual event at downtown’s Crypto.com Arena.
Andrew Giangola, vice president of strategic communications for PBR, told City News Service in an email that the organization does not have a partnership with ICE.
However, PBR has a partnership with the U.S. Border Patrol, focused on career recruitment and recognizing the service of USBP agents. The partnership began in 2008, and has extended through numerous administrations on both sides of the political spectrum, such as George Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the two Donald Trump terms.
“Our focus is to deliver a great event that celebrates our remarkable animal athletes and brings communities together. We look forward to delivering another positive, unifying and uplifting event to fans of all walks of life in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena in 2027,” Giangola said in his email.
PBR officials have said their event showcases the world’s best bull riders trying to hang onto the rankest bulls for eight “wild” seconds, a “mashup of athletic excitement wrapped into an amped-up, award-winning entertainment experience.”
Irene Muschel (NYC) says:
June 9, 2026 at 6:42 pm
It’s a very sad day when politicians representing the Hispanic community promote cruelty to animals–turning a blind eye to practices that injure animals
externally and internally. Veterinarians at slaughterhouses where these poor
animals end up have documented the massive internal bleeding and other injures inflicted on these victims in rodeos that are observed in their corpses.
Think of how wonderful it would be if the Hispanic community had leaders
who protect the good and ban the destructive practices in the lives of their
constituents. Instead, so many politicians endorse anything they feel will keep them in power.
Communities need leaders who promote empathy and kindness–
not the cruelty and violence that define rodeo.
Reply
Eric Mills says:
June 10, 2026 at 7:52 am
Agreed! Consider the following excerpt from a 12/26/90 letter that Cesar Chavez (United Farm Workers) wrote to me.
“Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a civilized society. Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed against human beings or against animals, is not the exclusive province of any one culture or community of people. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves.” Words to live by.
x
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland, CA
I am expressing my strong opposition to the treatment of animals in rodeos. The practice of roping and throwing animals to the ground, which often results in injury and suffering, is a clear form of animal cruelty and abuse.
Rodeos are not a form of entertainment; they are a display of insensitivity toward living beings. There is no place in our society for animal cruelty of any kind. I urge you to maintain your ban for these events and prioritize the humane treatment of animals.
Tormenting animals for “fun” in the rodeo is condemned by anyone with a conscience. End these cruel spectacles now.
Carol Gage (Northern California) asked me to post this for her:
Brutalizing animals in public spectacles like rodeo, under the guise of ‘tradition’ and ‘community’, is an affront to good people everywhere. Especially the millions who believe in the inherent dignity of animals and their absolute right to exist in the absence of intentional abuse and neglect. The many, many humane laws of this country are on the books for a reason, and they are continually evolving to include more – not fewer -protections for animals. The humane laws of this land attest to the higher ideals of our nation. They trump ‘culture’ and ‘community’ and ‘spectacle’, including the more-than-obvious abuses of rodeo, and are the will of thinking – and voting – people everywhere. Choosing to ignore our existing humane laws and impede new ones is definitely shortsighted.
To call the abuse and killing of animals “entertainment” is appalling!
It is well-documented by the FBI and other organizations, that those who abuse and kill animals are also violent to humans. These violent thugs are a danger to those around them and society as a whole.
Our society is evolving and the culture and heritage argument to continue violence to animals is no more valid than the slavery tradition argument.
Eliminate all forms of rodeos – regardless of the ethnicity of the violent participants!
The attempt to frame opposition to rodeo cruelty as an attack on Latino culture misses the point entirely. Compassion is not anti-cultural. The proposed ordinance targets specific events—bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, and other practices that cause fear, injury, and suffering to animals—not heritage, horsemanship, or equestrian traditions.
Cultures evolve, and traditions that depend on harming animals deserve thoughtful reexamination. Los Angeles has already shown leadership on animal welfare, and this ban would simply bring the city in line with growing public recognition that entertainment should not come at the expense of sentient beings. Protecting animals is a value that transcends politics and ethnicity, and it is time for Los Angeles to move forward and pass the rodeo ban.
As a former veterinarian and criminal lawyer, I was involved in cases where the violent defendant had abused/killed animals before he started abusing people. Rodeo is animal abuse and must end. Children attend rodeos and what are we teaching them?