An investigation into the death of a pregnant horse at the San Diego Rodeo in Petco Park earlier this year found there was no criminal liability or negligence on the part of the event organizers or its hosts, the San Diego Padres.
The death of the horse marks the second incident of animal injury in the rodeo’s two-year history. Last year, another horse was hurt after it crashed into a wall mid-competition.
The San Diego Humane Society’s enforcement officers investigated the death of the horse, which was eight months pregnant at the time of its death, and conducted a necropsy.
While animal advocates say the events are forms of animal cruelty, investigators said in a statement Thursday that the organizers acted legally and that using pregnant horses in rodeos is “standard practice in the rodeo industry.”
“While the law does not currently prohibit rodeos, this is a policy issue that demands attention,” Humane Society officials said. “No laws were broken, but a horse is dead.”
At the time of the incident, the event’s operators from the San Diego Rodeo Alliance called the death of the 16-year-old horse an “unforeseeable medical event” but defended the rodeo’s record on protecting animals.
“We emphasize the San Diego Humane Society’s findings that the horse’s death was accidental and unforeseen. The loss is extremely unfortunate and we remain dedicated to following protocols designed to safeguard the welfare of all participating animals,” Jeff Pugsley, a spokesperson for the alliance, said in a statement Thursday.
On the night of Jan. 11, Humane Society officers and veterinarians received a call that a horse in a saddle bronc competition — in which riders earn points for staying mounted on a horse that is attempting to throw them off — had a medical issue.
Although the horse had no visible signs of injury, 15 minutes after competing, the horse became shaky, Humane Society investigators said. The horse collapsed and died before veterinarians could arrive.
A post-mortem examination of the animal determined the horse was in its third trimester of pregnancy and died from a ruptured uterine artery, according to investigators. The foal also died. The length of horse pregnancies vary among breeds but average 11 to 12 months, according to researchers at Colorado State University.
Medical examiners could not determine if the uterus rupture happened before or after the event, officials said.
“It’s certainly possible that participating in the rodeo caused the rupture, but we cannot say for certain, and the injury could have happened regardless,” the Humane Society said in the report.
Despite the Humane Society’s findings, local animal advocates pointed to the horse’s death as the most recent example of rodeos being inherently harmful to animals.
In the rodeo’s inaugural year, a horse was injured during the rodeo after it crashed into a fence, officials said.
While animal advocates claimed the horse possibly died soon after as a result of the incident, Humane Society investigators, who also investigated that incident, were unable to confirm what ultimately came of the animal after it was deemed healthy enough to be transported back to its owner.
“The city of San Diego has hosted only two rodeos, and both have resulted in catastrophic harm,” said Amit Dhuleshia, a spokesperson for the animal advocacy group Strategic Action for Animals. “How many more animals must suffer or die before action is taken?”
In an attempt to stop San Diego County from hosting future rodeos, a lawsuit was filed two years ago by advocacy groups the Animal Protection and Rescue League and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness.
Bryan Pease, president of the Animal Protection and Rescue League and a Point Loma-based attorney who filed the civil suit, pointed to the bucking strap, a piece of equipment tightly wrapped around a horse to make it buck more wildly, as the likely cause of the pregnant horse’s death.
Humane Society investigators said pregnant horses are often used in bucking competitions because horses in heat are “less focused” and less likely to buck aggressively.
However, Humane Society officials said it is not common for horses that far along in their pregnancy to participate in rodeos. Investigators traveled out to the horse owner’s ranch, and officers determined that neither the rodeo nor the owner were aware of how far along the animal was in its pregnancy.
“We cannot prove definitively whether the horse’s participation in the rodeo directly contributed to her death or that anyone had knowledge that she was more pregnant than the assumed eight months based on the horse owner’s breeding schedule,” Humane Society officials said. “The horse appeared very well maintained and provided for, and her death appears to have been accidental and unforeseen.”
Pease said the lawsuit his organization has filed is currently in the discovery process, and he will be adding the latest horse’s death to the evidentiary discovery process.
Humane Society officials said that although they found no laws were broken in either of the rodeo incidents, they remain opposed to rodeos. They recently started a petition asking city officials to take action to stop future rodeos from occurring within the city of San Diego.
Officials from the San Diego Rodeo Alliance said no other animals involved in the three-day event required medical treatment.
