SAN DIEGO (KGTV — Emotions filled the room as the City of San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee discussed agenda item 3: animal welfare regulations in rodeos.

“There’s no such thing as a cruelty-free rodeo,” says Jan Fogel, a local animal rights activist. “It can’t be done without cruelty, injury, etc., and it can’t be monitored very well either.”

Although an outright ban on rodeos was not likely in the near future, new proposals were unveiled aimed at eliminating popular activities such as calf roping, team roping and steer wrestling, which have encountered resistance from those who have been practicing them for years.

“It would definitely weaken the sport,” says Filemon Jara, a local who grew up around these types of events and practices his whole life.

Jara says it would change the dynamic of the sport.

“It’s almost like asking a baseball player to hit a ball without a bat.”

During the meeting, the San Diego Humane Society also offered to have a licensed and trained veteran on site during these events as well as take a closer look at these animals while traveling. Several signs filled the front rows of the crowd, in an effort to make their position known. Some say it is to save what they call *tradition, while others say they are seeking to save the lives of animals.

“They think it’s a tradition and they think there’s money to be made from it,” Fogel says. “It’s just abuse and you know there’s no way you can have a rodeo without it.”

But Jara disagrees.

“To say that we are just brutal savages and out to harm animals is absolutely not the reality,” he explains. “The biggest misconception is that we are animal abusers and we intentionally hurt animals and that’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

No vote was scheduled for Thursday… but this now opens the discussion to one day find common ground.

“They’re not just trophy pets, they’re part of our sport, so we definitely want to take care of them. We don’t want people to know that this was part of our intention all along.”