Time to outlaw this barbaric pursuit.

[jetttxyz]

Whilst accepting your logic, it's a completely different issue that's being discussed ie the pursuit of an animal by dogs / horses / humans for the sake of pleasure it derives.

In this pursuit, the chased animal could get maimed or killed.

Two cocks fighting each other; one could get maimed / killed.

Two dogs fighting each other; one could get maimed / killed.

Two people fighting each other in a ring; one could get maimed / killed.

These blood'sports' have nothing to do with dog / horse / humans racing each other.

But the animals can get maimed or killed in racing. A race or show horse, etc, can get maimed or killed in that activity too and it occasionally occurs due to a broken leg in a fall and/or collision incident, the injuries of which are usually fatal and call for the animal to be put down, e.g.,

Barbaro euthanized after lengthy battle - Horse racing- NBC Sports

The thing is that the animals are not intended to get maimed or killed...quite the opposite actually. With dog and cock fighting, however, the fights are actually designed to maim and kill each other, a total opposite intent. Boxing doesn't intent to kill the combatants, but it can happen in very rare instances, and by design it calls for maiming.

We're not discussing the same thing.
In football, horse racing, greyhound racing, athletics, the participants are competing against each other and the clock.

They could accidentally get injured as a result.

In blood'sports', there is a deliberate attempt to maim/ injure / kill the opponent....for the enjoyment of the spectators.
Hence, the term blood'sports' as opposed to just sport.

I've no problem with people participating in blood'sports' as long as they admit they like blood'sports'.

What they do, is attempt to justify their bloodthirsty enjoyment as mainstream ie civilised activity.

[Sitting Duck]

I don't get the comparisons with horse racing, fishing, cat owners etc. Like for like, the closest horse racing (which I dislike) could come is to force the horse to keep running AFTER the leg break until it dies through exhaustion and pain. Cat owners - some might see it as natural for cats to hunt birds, but how many would be content to watch their cat disable a bird then terrorise it around the garden for 3 hours before killing it?

I respect OSB's way of life where he seems to live in harmony with nature as well as off it. That is not what the bloodlusters are about, not at all.

[ExtremeCentrist]

The Queen was actually just telling the truth. Whilst the sport is stereotypically associated with the peerage, it actually got started by rural commoners centuries ago for pest control, and today participants engage or engaged in it from all social classes even in Britain until it was banned there. It's extremely common around where I live most of the year at this time (Pennsylvania) and obviously the Americans have no attachment to the British peerage, and participants come from all economic classes.

Oh I'm sure it was truthful, but I utterly reject his assertion that since this is an upper class British sport, and all unionists are royalists and love the nobility (do I ************************), that it's somehow "our" fault. Not needed in a thread about a non-sectarian issue, with plenty of unionists against fox hunting.

[O'Sullivan Bere]

I don't get the comparisons with horse racing, fishing, cat owners etc. Like for like, the closest horse racing (which I dislike) could come is to force the horse to keep running AFTER the leg break until it dies through exhaustion and pain. Cat owners - some might see it as natural for cats to hunt birds, but how many would be content to watch their cat disable a bird then terrorise it around the garden for 3 hours before killing it?

I respect OSB's way of life where he seems to live in harmony with nature as well as off it. That is not what the bloodlusters are about, not at all.

The reason I raised those example mentioned above because the entire topic is often more complicated than assumed and some people go to troublesome extremes with it.

Yes, I am an avid lover of nature IMO. Where I primarily reside now in the US (Pennsylvania) is much like Ireland physically and settled heavily by Irish, especially Ulster as shown by the multitude of Irish place names here. It's a place where I likewise get to enjoy rural pastime loves, settings and pursuits I enjoyed in Ireland and for which I often see under threat today in Ireland due to changing society and changing views, not all of them good IMO. I love horses and rural settings and farming environs for example...was raised with it in Ireland and continue with it in Pennsylvania and I like to hunt and fish within the parameters of all the rules designed here for fair play and fair purpose, such as respecting, replenishing and controlling wildlife stock, taking game and fish for food and within considerations of decency and population control issues (deer for example constitute farming pests, dangerous traffic hazards, health hazards to people and animals alike, etc, if their populations are not controlled and provide excellent meat stockings of healthier meat that save food costs, etc).

I'm not a fox hunter (or 'fox chaser' as they prefer in the US) but it's plentiful around my current area. But I like how they do it here as opposed to what I saw in Ireland or Britain with the unnecessary and controversial kill policy. Not only do they have a no-kill policy, they do a great job serving as a protection against overbuilding and suburban sprawl and preserving the very rural settings and all their wildlife concerns with their hunt lands. They've been leaders of conservation legislation, structuring conservation property deeds and putting land tracts into conservation easements. They provide homes, literally speaking, for the foxes on the lands where they don't have to go become a pest to local farmers and garden keepers, etc. The lands are often used for other purposes such as horse and cattle and livestock raising, show horse activities and general horse grounds, bird sanctuaries, etc. They provide safer hunting grounds away from populations. They provide lands where other animals can range and eat, etc, that keep them from becoming pests and dangers to others. Here's what you're looking at in my present county in Pennsylvania insofar as fox hunting (chasing):





What these lands do and preserve for so many mentioned purposes and more is something I treasure and wish Ireland would do a better job maintaining and encouraging. Everyone knows there's a backslide into surplus crap housing and sprawl that bubbled over, too many youths making themselves useless and getting into trouble rather than playing sports and having recreations and productively led pursuits and appreciations, etc.