Cruel sports
Name(s):
Blood sports
Barbaric games
Incidence
Cruel sports, which provide amusement for people but agonizing death for animals (and sometimes humans), include bullfighting (for example, in Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan); fox hunting with hounds (for example, in the UK and the USA); hare coursing (England and Ireland); turkey shoots (USA); cockfighting (Cuba, Indonesia, Japan); deer hunting on horseback accompanied by hounds (France); cricket fighting (China); and wild pig-sticking (Germany).
Claim
All blood sports should be banned because it is never right to make a game out of killing another living creature.
Counter-claim
Country sports do involve the killing of animals, but so does eating meat and wearing leather. If it is accepted that animal farming is essential to produce food and to preserve the countryside, it must also be accepted that pests have to be controlled.
Strategy(ies)
Value(s)
Type
(D) Detailed problems