We, the undersigned, call on Congress to close the federal loophole that has allowed rodeo animals to be excluded from baseline legal protection for decades.

The Problem

Rodeo events such as calf roping, steer wrestling, bronc riding, and bull riding routinely subject animals to fear, pain, and physical injury for entertainment. Animals used in these events are:

• Roped, jerked to a stop, and slammed to the ground at high speed, producing documented fear and distress at every stage of the event
• Provoked into bucking or charging through the use of flank straps, which apply painful pressure to the animal's flank and groin
• Driven with electric prods and "hot shots" that cause pain, skin damage, and sometimes bleeding
• Subjected to "horse tripping," in which a running horse is roped by the legs and crashes or flips onto the ground

Despite this, the federal Animal Welfare Act explicitly exempts rodeo exhibitors from its requirements. The federal Twenty-Eight Hour Law, which governs the transport of farmed animals, rarely applies in practice because rodeo animals are typically transported in contractors' own trucks and trailers. There is currently no federal bill banning rodeos or rodeo cruelty, and no federal agency has authority to intervene. Protection for these animals exists only where individual states or cities have chosen to act, and most of the country has no safeguards at all.

What We Are Asking Congress To Do

We call on Congress to introduce and pass legislation that amends the Animal Welfare Act to remove its rodeo exemption, establishing federal protections for all animals used in rodeo, including:

1. Independent veterinary oversight at all rodeo events, with authority to examine animals and halt an event when an animal is in distress or injured
2. A federal ban on devices proven to cause pain or injury, including electric prods, "hot shots," and other goading devices
3. A federal ban on horse tripping, already prohibited in thirteen states, extended nationwide
4. Mandatory incident reporting for any animal injury or death occurring at a rodeo event, made publicly available
5. Enforcement authority for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to inspect rodeo events and penalize violations, consistent with its existing role under the Animal Welfare Act for other animal exhibitors

Why This Matters

Veterinarians who have worked inside the rodeo industry have spoken out against these practices. Former bronc rider and veterinarian Dr. Peggy W. Larson has described rodeo as a cruel and outdated form of spectacle that should be outlawed. The science is clear: these animals experience measurable fear, stress, and physical harm, and they are forced into these events — they have no say in whether they participate.

Congress already recognized, in passing the Animal Welfare Act, that animals used for public exhibition deserve baseline protection. The rodeo exemption is an exception to that principle, not a reflection of it. There is no reason animals in rodeo arenas should remain excluded from protections that apply to animals in nearly every other form of public exhibition.