Animal scrambles: Traditional fun or animal cruelty?

OREGON -- In Oregon, a legislative work group will try to sort out some kind of regulation for the events, where rabbits, chickens or small animals are turned loose in an arena to be chased and caught by young children, who then take them home as pets.

The effort is led by Rep. David Gomberg, D-Central coast, who was spurred to action by a rabbit scramble held in Lane County.

"You can imagine the kind of entertainment, if I could use that phrase at all, that might ensue from the activities in the arena, and the kind of injuries that might result to both the animals and the children," Gomberg recently told a House committee.

This black and white rabbit appears injured; she kicks it out of the way

After dragging a terrified rabbit out from under the trailer, she flings it

No where to hide, they move the trailer and leave the rabbits exposed

"In the weeks that followed, most of the animals, the majority of the animals ended up in shelters," Gomberg said. "There was also some evidence a number of them were cut loose, resulting in feral colonies of animals in the area."

Gomberg was surprised by opposition to a bill he introduced to address the issue.

House Bill 2641 would require that a minimum level of care be provided to an animal before it's awarded as a prize.

It would ensure that the animal is not chased, kicked or otherwise subjected to offensive physical contact.

 

 

With dozens of kids running and falling and grabbing at the rabbits,
it's not crazy to think that some of these rabbits will suffer injuries - from
being stepped on, grabbed, squeezed and fought over.

And it would allow a winner up to six months to return an animal given as a prize.

Glenn Kolb, executive director of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, told the committee it would be extremely difficult for vets to certify the quality of care given before an examination.

Jim Welsh, political advocate for the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, said the bill flies in the face of tradition.

"We do not want to infringe on rodeo events," Welsh said.

Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, testified that, in his 30 years as a veterinarian, he has never seen a problem with animal scrambles.

"If the purpose is to curtail traditional events at county fairs and rodeos, this bill is a solution in search of a problem," Whitsett said.

Committee members weighed in with their own experiences:

"I'm having this visual picture of my 6-year-old daughter at the La Pine Rodeo, when they were doing a scramble, she caught a goose, and she wrestled it all the way across the arena at great peril to herself," said Rep. Caddie McKeown, D-Coos Bay. "She was bruised and battered and the best thing that happened is she got to the gate and it got away. And I didn't have to bring it home in my car."

"I took my rabbit home and ate it," said Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach.

Rabbit Scramble Event - South Douglas Rodeo

Gomberg said he's open to any changes to the bill that will satisfy all the parties.

"I'm not looking at a slippery slope," he said. "I'm simply trying to deal with responsible pet ownership and preventing injuries to these animals during the competition."

The work group will consider several proposed amendments to the bill before bringing it back to the committee.

(Statesman Journal - ‎Feb 25, 2015‎)

Earlier:

• Bad To Chase Bunnies at the Rodeo?

Video of the "Rabbit Scamble" at the Cottage Grove rodeo



Bad To Chase Bunnies at the Rodeo?

OREGON -- One bunny had a broken jaw and was missing its tail.

Three more wound up at the home of a Cottage Grove employee after a co-worker said her kids couldn’t keep them. Heather Crippen of Red Barn Rabbit Rescue says that those were a few of the results of a previous “animal scramble” at the Cottage Grove Rodeo.

Crippen started Red Barn with her daughter and runs the small rescue out of her farm in Creswell.

She says with 50 rabbits already and a waiting list of 20 more, she wants to avoid more hurt and homeless bunnies. She has been asking the rodeo, which will take place July 12-13, to sponsor a different event for children.

Rabbits are fragile and the event stresses, sickens and even kills them, she says.

 

  

 

In the animal scramble last year, and at a recent one at Myrtle Creek in Douglas County, rabbits were tossed out of trailers or pickup trucks and into an arena where hordes of children were unleashed to chase and catch them.

Red Barn’s video of the 2012 scramble shows bunnies getting stepped on and, Crippen says, paralyzed with fear. If the kids catch a rabbit at the event, they keep it. An attendee at the Myrtle Creek scramble was reported to have said to his child, “You going to catch us a rabbit? Going to help dad butcher it?”

Crippen has offered to donate money to the Cottage Grove Riding Club (CGRC) for a different, animal-friendly event, such as one that hides money and prizes inside plastic eggs. The rodeo and scramble are a fundraiser for the riding club.

At press time, the rescue’s offer has not been accepted. CGRC president Kelli Fisher says the event benefits the community and it gives children “the opportunity to experience raising their own animal.”

Red Barn has discovered that the scramble is subject to USDA regulations.

“They have to get licensed and inspected,” Crippen says. “Many of the regulations are for the protection and safety of the rabbits.” And she says she was told the rodeo only recently applied for the license, so she’s not sure how they will get approved in time.

Crippen emailed the club in May, asking that this year’s event be removed, saying she has heard from PETA and other groups that want to protest the scramble. Crippen wrote that Red Barn has tried to discourage protest and “we prefer a professional approach to this disagreement.”

The riding club responded with a letter from attorney Milton E. Gifford, who alleges that Crippen’s email “threatened that there would be protests and picketing.”

He tells her that she does “not have the right to videotape any portion of the rodeo” and calls her email “veiled threats” and says she will “be held personally liable for intentional interference with business relations.” Fisher says, “I and our board consider Red Barn and its members to be cruel, hurtful and a threat to our families.”

 

Scott Beckstead, Oregon director for the Humane Society of the United States, has been supporting Crippen’s efforts to end the scramble. He says, “It is our position that this event is inherently cruel to the rabbits, and promotes unhealthy attitudes about pet ownership by awarding live animals as ‘prizes.’ Rabbits are delicate, sensitive little creatures, and turning them loose in a rodeo arena to be chased by a throng of children subjects them to an unreasonable risk of terror, shock and injury.”

Beckstead says that rabbits are the third most common animal at shelters and humane societies, and events such as the scramble strain those resources. Crippen and Beckstead have met with Faye Stewart, the Lane County commissioner from Cottage Grove, and Crippen spoke to the County Commission on June 4 about her concerns over the animal scramble. Fisher says CGRC is working with the local Humane Society chapter to improve the event.

(Eugene Weekly - June 13, 2013)