Legal And Illegal Animal Fights: Brutal And Unnecessary

Fights between buffaloes, roosters, horses, and other animals are common in China, India, and the Southeast Asian region. Laws in many countries now prohibit these fights, but it’s hard to regulate village people and illegal gamblers. In Indonesia and the Philippines, they hold animal fights regularly. Although they are officially banned, they still allow them due to certain religious excuses. You can even legally bet on them. Though these are not the only legal and illegal animal fights. Bullfighting and greyhound races are also on the list, and who knows what else will people invent.

Legal and Illegal Animal Fights – Buffalo Fights

Once a year, on the day of St. Isidore, the Philippines hold a celebration in honor of the Carabaos, which are the local water buffalos. The buffaloes walk through the streets of the villages with garlands of flowers around their big necks. People dress and decorate them, make them hats, and the animals even receive blessings from a priest. Spectators go wild no matter what the buffaloes do. They cheer and clap loudly when the carabaos walk down the streets. After the parade is over, the fights start. Among the other legal and illegal animal fights, the buffalo contests are usually relatively peaceful events. 

People set the buffaloes against each other when they are irritated, excited enough. Usually, the animals only try to push each other out of the makeshift arena by their heads and large horns. More often than not, the fight ends with the weaker running away. Although buffalo horns curve backward, they can cause various injuries to each other’s necks or sides. The horns of an otherwise peaceful buffalo can become a life-threatening weapon in this case. The Philippines don’t consider these fights cruel, even though these types of events are banned for a reason.

Legal and illegal animal fights – Cockfight

Even though cockfighting is among the illegal animal fights in most countries, it is legal in the Philippines. Not to mention that, despite being banned, the police arrest people for their involvement in cockfighting almost every week all around the world.

These are the most popular but much more dangerous animal fights, and despite the ban, people hold daily competitions in Indonesia. It is allowed as part of a religious ceremony, so the participants of the cockfights seem to celebrate a holiday every day. 

There is a lot of rooster fighting in the Philippines too. They have arenas specifically for this purpose, and, of course, betting is allowed. According to 20Bet Sportsbook, due to a new proposal, betting on these events could become part of online gambling. Especially, in Southeast Asian countries. It has become a national sport in the Philippines, and an unbelievable amount of money is at stake. Legislators are working on regulating online gambling, and betting on cockfights could also be available at online bookmakers in some countries, check out these countries at online sportsbook sites in China. 

Biting horses

In addition to the carabaos fights, horse fights are regular in China especially. The audience cheers and bets on the horses that are otherwise even-tempered creatures. However, in that environment, they turn into dangerous beasts. They provoke the horses with a mare. Someone leads her close to them, which excites and frustrates them until they grow feral. People force them into a state of agony and then use them for entertainment purposes. 

The state of excitement usually occurs quickly, and they start fighting. The horrific fights of aggressive horses have fascinated the Chinese for centuries. Here, too, the matches end with the weaker running away, but it is not uncommon for them to inflict severe wounds on each other with their bites. Buffalo and horse fights do not usually cost animals their lives, but animal rights activists keep trying to ban these legal and illegal animal fights once and for all. As opposed to brutal fights, some animals bring luck, and various cultures respect.

Gambling

Spectators and participants of buffalo, horse, and rooster fights are notorious gamblers. That is the whole purpose of these legal and illegal animal fights. In Bali, the village arenas are packed daily. In Asia, only men take part in cockfights, while women work in the fields. Most cockfights have deathly outcomes. The Balinese think that the blood of roosters is a sacrifice to satisfy the demons’ bloodthirst. Such matches have been held since ancient times. If you want to know more about cockfights, look up 20Bet Sportsbook.

Cockfighting is a dangerous sport, even to people. In the Philippines, during the fight, a rooster went so wild that it inflicted severe wounds on its owner and also attacked a judge. The fatally injured forty-three-year-old judge died, due to blood loss from the wounds on his arm and abdomen, during the car ride to the hospital. Accidents like that are not uncommon, but the cockfight is sacred to these people. Those who do this for money only, so in the countries where it is illegal, will get arrested sooner or later.

Bullfighting

Animal rights activists are raising their voices over and over again about bullfighting. Many people assume that bullfighting has ritual and religious roots or is part of a traditional hunting ceremony. Today it has no other function than entertaining and bringing in profit, while for some, it is to preserve tradition. No matter the reasons behind it, we can’t bypass the brutality of bullfighting. According to online sportsbook sites, the Spanish Unión de Criadores de Toros de Lidia, which represents more than 300 farmers, estimates that banning the ‘game’ would cost this sector around € 200 million a year across Europe. 

In 2015, the overwhelming majority of Spanish people voted against bullfights. However, more than six years later, not much has changed. In the meantime, they put aside the case of banning bullfights. Bullfighting is another sport on the list of legal and illegal animal fights. It is still popular in Mexico, Spain, Portugal, and some South-American countries, but they banned it in Cuba, the UK, Italy, Canada, etc.

The Terrible Truth About Bullfighting

A weakened, intimidated, and confused animal is defenseless against its attackers until it collapses and bleeds to death. Sadly, that’s not all. Many times, people treat bulls cruel even before the race, and, although this is officially illegal, people weaken them by a selection of torture methods to make them look wild and raging enough to the public. Common practices include: smearing Vaseline in their eyes to blur their vision and putting cotton wool in their ears to confuse them further. Even starving them or using other cruel tools before the fights. Sometimes they use various drugs on them too. If you want to know the stages of a bullfight, you can check them out at online sportsbook news sites!

About 40,000 animals die under these horrific circumstances during this so-called sport. While the protesters claim that the popularity of these events is declining, the supporters deny this. Thankfully, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. There are promising initiatives, such as banning bullfighting in Catalonia in 2010. However, as long as the bullfight remains seen as a profitable business, it is unlikely that we will be able to say goodbye to it anytime soon.

Legal and Illegal Animal Fights – Greyhound Races

While greyhound races are not about fighting, more and more people bring attention to the cruelty of these competitions and the conditions of the dogs. It is legal in some countries but illegal in most. For instance, in Florida, the majority of people voted against it, and since 2021 it is forbidden to organize greyhound races there. Many thought it a hopeless cause, but they accepted the proposal, mainly because the public has started to see that animals are not necessarily treated well in the entertainment industry. Three years ago, there were more tracks in Florida than in any other state. However, by the end of 2020, only three tracks and maybe two thousand race dogs remained. Since then, those three tracks have also been closed. Greyhound races are legal in only seven countries: the UK, Iceland, New Zealand, Mexico, Ireland, and five states in the US. 

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