I'm niether a betting man nor a horse racing fan but watched the Grand National along with others, and was shocked at the obvious cruelty being dished out to inocent animals.
Two horses killed during the race. One with a broken neck and the other with a broken back. Horses on the point of collapse at the end of the race. The winning horse to exhausted to even make it to the winners enclosure.
Watching the savage and merciless use of the whips could only be discribed as discusting, and all done in the name of sporting fun.
Races like this should be banned.
:mad: ...:mad: ...:mad:
I now seem to spend a lot of time arguing with inanimate objects
Try googling how many die in a year in the UK . . . You'll be really shocked.
http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/
Another real hate of mine is Grouse and Pheasant shoots.
Most of these poor bird starve to death or die on the roads, very few actually get shot. Most of these are simply thrown away.
Then there's the millions of other animals killed to protect the game birds, I've found lots of dead Stoat and Weasel in traps while out walking.
Very distressing that the only chance you get to see these animals is when the are dead, to protect another animals someone is then going to shoot and then simply throw away.
Here's another link... http://www.stopkillinghorses.com/
And perhaps even more shocking in the UK alone 40,000 greyhounds are disposed of every year by the racing industry. Read this page... http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Letter_Greyhound_Racing.htm
I'm not even a dog or horse lover (oh err vicar!), and it makes my blood boil...
People are routinely disgusted by 'Badger Baiting', 'Dog Fighting' and other brutal 'animal exploitations for betting', however horse and dog racing where the animals are often 'damaged' then disposed of (often not in a nice way) when they are 'un-economic' or 'too old', are often seen as national institutions and acceptable. They are promoted and feted by our media too... The BBC seem to go all out this year to promote the Grand National at Aintree.
If footballers were shot or 'disposed of' when they were injured beyond repair or had become 'non-profitable', I think parity would be restored... How about it FIFA?
http://www.horsedeathwatch.com/Another real hate of mine is Grouse and Pheasant shoots.
Most of these poor bird starve to death or die on the roads, very few actually get shot. Most of these are simply thrown away.Then there's the millions of other animals killed to protect the game birds, I've found lots of dead Stoat and Weasel in traps while out walking.
Very distressing that the only chance you get to see these animals is when the are dead, to protect another animals someone is then going to shoot and then simply throw away.
Duncan, where do you get your facts from ? I have a 1,000 acre shoot in Cornwall, and unless they do it differently in your neck of the woods, I have, frankly never heard such a load of uninformed rubbish in my 45 years of shooting.
"If footballers were shot or 'disposed of' when they were injured beyond repair or had become 'non-profitable', I think parity would be restored... How about it FIFA? "
Now there`s a thought !!!
I've filmed a lot of pigeon fanciers. The birds nearly kill themselves getting home, their hearts often burst. And once they stop winning races, these 'fanciers' wring the birds necks and throw them in the bin. But it's a sport apparently.
I've filmed a lot of pigeon fanciers. The birds nearly kill themselves getting home, their hearts often burst. And once they stop winning races, these 'fanciers' wring the birds necks and throw them in the bin. But it's a sport apparently.
Thought you might have responded to Colin`s comment!
It doesn't stop there. We've recently 'rescued' a cat. She'd spent 3 years as a pedigree mother and then been simply discarded by the breeder, to a cat rescue. the girl who then took her on couldn't cope with a house-full, so we've got her.
Horse Racing, - the sport of kings! Grouse shooting, the pastime of the Royal Family. Let's not let a glorious pastime (and lucrative business sector) be embarassed by statistics. ;¬)
Steve
the girl who then took her on couldn't cope with a house-full, so we've got her.
All legally adopted and above board of course. .....:D ....
I now seem to spend a lot of time arguing with inanimate objects
Yep, and she's gorgeous (the cat, that is). Now fully adapted to freedom, and lack of subjugation by dominant Toms. A proper little gem.
I didn't see Colin's comments, but a quick google search for the record:
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/factfiles/pheasant.pdf
Burning swathes of heather to promote growth of new shoots, traps left everywhere to kill every other kind of animal which might eat the grouse eggs. And the endless sight of dead birds at the side of the road. Sick, pointless.
Burning swathes of heather to promote growth of new shoots, traps left everywhere to kill every other kind of animal which might eat the grouse eggs. And the endless sight of dead birds at the side of the road. Sick, pointless.
OK, the initial post raises some extremely important questions about sport - as we understand more about performance we develop ever more intensive methods of achieving stunning results, be it a human 100m sprinter or an animal. The philosophy behind this would be a good "A" level exam question.
The secondary O/T point about management of wildlife and the countryside as per the quote above is also difficult but the facts are these: "the countryside" is, and needs to be managed. Bracken/Heather/Woodland needs management in the UK as does the wildlife that poulates that countryside.
Shooting and estate management control and balance species of wildlife. At the moment that balance has, imho, gone wrong due to the Countryside stewardship scheme - we have too many predators to the detriment of the small bird population. The trouble is whenever you interfere it is difficult to get the balance right. Looking at the devastation caused by a Vixen and her cubs the other day, you might have called that cruelty to the local rabbit population.
It really is very difficult. What we must do is deal with facts and understand the objectives we need to create for a sensible outcome that balances all sides of the arguement.
Here's another link... http://www.stopkillinghorses.com/If footballers were shot or 'disposed of' when they were injured beyond repair or had become 'non-profitable', I think parity would be restored... How about it FIFA?
Some of the players who play for the team I support play like they had already been shot.
Surely the point about 'sport' now is that, in order to be any good at it, the participant has to be a physical freak of some sort. In cycling, drugs ensured that for many years, only recently have drugs become unfashionable. When Tommy Simpson died on Ventoux, pretty well all the riders were openly on drugs. But the freak nature of the competitors is highlighted by Miguel Indurain, who had the largest heart/lung capacity then ever measured in a human, and whose rest heart rate was between 27 and 29 beats/minute.
"If footballers were shot or 'disposed of' when they were injured beyond repair or had become 'non-profitable', I think parity would be restored... How about it FIFA? "Now there`s a thought !!!
You beat me to this comment, John. Maybe some should get shot before they get injured:D
Harry
Or in some cases, shot before they open their mouth!
The first couple of paragraphs of Duncans link, show the publication for what it is, total and utter rubbish.
Every year around 35 million pheasants are specially bred so
that they can be shot down for pleasure. While they are
imprisoned, the birds endure crowded conditions, stress and
disease. Once they are released, many of the birds die from
predation, starvation, disease, and from being hit by vehicles
and other causes - before they can even be shot.
The pheasant shooting season runs from 1st October to 1st
February. Many of the birds who are shot are not even
eaten.
Animal Aid Information Sheet Animal Aid Information Sheet [end quote] (I MIGHT HAVE GUESSED)
The only thing they got right was the duration of the season.What wonderful, emotive words are used
IMPRISONED
Poults are put in open pens at 6 weeks old, most fly out within the first 24 hours, and roam freely on the land
CROWDED CONDITIONS.
If you can call roaming over vast areas of wooded valleys crowded
STARVATION
Birds are fed all the year round, they cost a lot of money, if you dont feed them they will wander off your land, they also need to be strong and healthy for the breeding season.
DISEASE.
If disease hits your shoot, you are finished, every care is taken to reduce the risk, medicated pellets, water additives etcIt goes on in detail to tell of a dog, ripping the wing off a bird. if any of my dogs, or the picking up dogs did this, they would never work again. They are all extremely gentle with dead or running (Injured) birds, and retrieve them to hand very quickly.
It is not my intention to start an argument on this matter, but when you fully understand, what shooting is all about, as I do, its difficult not to respond to such posts
Years ago I had a comedy compilation tape including a routine by Jo Brand about the Grand National. Most of it revolved around the events of the year of the false start fiasco. But Jo then mentioned that she and friends would set up a barbeque at Becher's Brook, when the audience groaned she justified the location by saying "well some of them don't make it over".
Given the false start race happened in 1993, this shows that the public perception has long been that this race is an often fatally attritional event. One of the original race hurdles was a brick wall!
John D johnross93.freeserve.co.uk
Jumps racing, as its known here, is facing extinction. Due simply to the fatalities of the horses involved.
The government threw it a lifeline, saying stop the fatals, but would not stop it entirely as its a govt cash cow.... Sadly, on the first day of the jumps season, two horses died.
So many activist groups are lobbying the poloies, its hoped to see an end to this sport withing a year.... but how many more horses have to die, and riders seriously injured?