Be a sport by avoiding cruel animal sports

The cruelty behind the glamor of horse racing

Image credit: Mathew Schwartz/Unsplash

The horse racing industry markets itself as a glamorous sport, but the reality is far from it. Horses used for racing are usually housed in isolation and close confinement, which causes these social, plains-ranging animals, major distress.

Moreover, racing exposes horses to a significant risk of injury and sometimes death through trauma such as a broken neck, or emergency euthanasia. The welfare of a horse is severely affected in racing and other equestrian sports. Their diet, transport, management, training, culling of uncompetitive animals, use of the whip and risk of injury and death, are some of the areas of welfare concern.

When racing, a horse is often struck with a whip which inflicts pain to the animal and can result in injury, all just to enhance their performance. Although, Australia's Rules of Racing only allow a specific type of 'padded' whip, there are no rules about the number of strikes during the last 100 meters of a race.

Another cruel practice in horse racing is the usage of tongue-ties to prevent the horses from choking during high intensity exercise. When pressure is applied to the tongue-tie via the reins, the helpless horses are forced to comply. Horses with tongue-ties often show signs of pain, anxiety and distress, have difficulty swallowing, cuts and lacerations to the tongue, bruising and swelling.

Horse racing is just another cruel form of entertainment at the expense of innocent animals. With your help, we can end the needless suffering of horses. Forever.

Trophy hunting: a cruel and unfair chase

Image credit: Pippa Hankinson / Blood Lions

Every year, trophy hunters shoot more than 800 lions in South Africa. Wealthy tourists pay big bucks for a guaranteed kill and claim the heads of lions as 'trophies.'

For this sadistic sport, an unsuspecting lion is lured into a confinement where he or she is brutally killed by these tourists who are usually amateur hunters. Ambushed and slaughtered, a lion is often left to bleed out, suffering a slow, agonizing, and demeaning death. After that, the lion is skinned and decapitated and turned into 'trophies.'

With your support, we commissioned research into public attitudes towards trophy hunting, surveying 10,900 people from around the world, including international tourists, who most frequently visit South Africa, and South African citizens.

It revealed the universally strong opposition to this inhumane blood sport and a desire to finance the protection of the nation's iconic wildlife through non-lethal alternatives such as responsible wildlife tourism.

South Africa has beautiful nature and rich wildlife, which should be experienced with wildlife-friendly alternatives that can both generate income from the tourism industry and ensure better lives for lions.

Transforming the current trophy hunting industry into a more wildlife-friendly alternative will not only benefit the animals, but also the country.

Here are just three national parks with lion prides to visit in South Africa:

• Kruger National Park

The greater park area is home to an estimated 1,600 lions.

• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Home to about 40 prides of the legendary black-maned lion

• Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park

A small but growing population of 120 lions call these combined parks home.

Together we can end the exploitation of big cats who are being hunted by so-called 'trophy hunters' and give them lives worth living.

Bear baiting: bloodshed under the guise of entertainment

Bear baiting is an illegal, inhumane blood sport wherein a defenseless, captive bear is pitted against a group of trained dogs for entertainment. In the rural regions of Pakistan, large crowds gather to watch this so-called sport. Bears are cruelly captured from the wild and forced into captivity and torment just to be exploited for this horrific form of entertainment.

Even before they are made to fight, bears undergo immense trauma and suffering, with their canine teeth broken, muzzles painfully pierced with nose rings and claws often removed. After each fight, bears are terribly injured, which is why most of them rarely make it past the age of eight. And once a bear dies, the cycle starts all over again.

Since 1997, we've been working with the Pakistan Bioresource Research Center (BRC) to end bear baiting. As a result, together we've decreased the number of bear baiting events dramatically. Bears are now able to live better lives, and so are their owners. Our work includes:

• Preventing bear baiting events, by working with wildlife officials and local partners to share information.
• Strengthening legislation and making sure laws banning bear baiting are enforced.
• Seeking new legislation that will make it illegal to own a bear or will at least ban the use of bears for baiting, dancing, and begging.
• Reducing demand for bear baiting, by working with teachers, religious leaders and influential landlords to promote animal protection and raise awareness that bear baiting contravenes Islamic teachings.
• Offering alternative livelihoods for bear owners, so that they leave bear baiting behind for good.
• Providing sanctuary for bears who are surrendered or rescued from bear baiting – though our ultimate goal is for bears to remain in the wild.
• Exposing cruelty, by monitoring, uncovering, and tackling the exploitation of bears, including bear dancing and begging, which may be increasing as bear baiting declines.

Together, we can stop bears from being subjected to a lifetime of pain and distress in the name of entertainment.