Blood sports are considered any sport or form of entertainment that involves violence against animals. As the name suggests, these sports usually involve blood being drawn, and often result in death of one or more of the animals. Today there are many blood sports including cockfighting, bullfighting, dog fighting, hunting, and fishing. Animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the United States are constantly working to limit and oppose animal violence and abuse. Despite their efforts, there are still many blood sports that take place all across the world.
One recent example of a blood sport that recieved a lot of national attention was the case of Michael Vick and his dog fighting trials. In 2007, Michael Vick was indicted for dog fighting in his Virginia home. Dog fighting is an intense blood sport in which two trained dogs are placed in a pin and forced to fight each other for some spectators entertainment. These fights tend to last at least an hour or until death. The cause of death in dog fighting ranges from blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion, or infection. If dogs survive the dog fight, they are routinely released back into a local community. Because of their violent past, they immediately become a risk to other animals and humans. According to the Humane society there are also many more concerns other than the safety of the dogs. New information has revealed that many kids attend dog fights. Not only are these kids being exposed to animal violence, but also to illegal drugs and weapons that are ever present at dog fights. These issues have been around long before the Michael Vick trials, but because of his popularity people are now much more aware of how violent and uncivil blood sports can be.
When people hear the words "blood sport," they tend to think of cockfightin, bullfighting, or dog fighting. However, there are actually many activities that are considered blood sports that are not really activities but ways of life. These activities include hunting and fishing. Before agricultural improvement and the industrial revolution, hunting and fishing were the main ways of obtaining food and clothing. Even today there are many cultures that depend on hunting and fishing for their survival. Without these "blood sports" many cultures today would decline and ultimately become extinct.
All of creation is a gift to mankind. Because it is a gift we should be good stewards of it by caring for it, protecting it, and using it for our benefit. Our benefit is not violent animal cruelty, but instead, it is our survival which is found in food, clothing, and occasionally animal labor. Therefore, blood sports that support animal cruelty for entertainment such as cockfighting, bullfighting, and dog fighting should be banned worldwide. On the other hand, blood sports such as hunting and fishing should be allowed and even promoted to benefit mankind.
Bryce Vaught
I agree that blood sports that support animal cruelty should be banned worldwide. Not only are blood sports inhumane, but they clearly have a wide range of negative influence and place some danger to the local community.
ReplyDeleteThe content of this paper is good; the definition of blood sport is provided which I think is necessary, and there are good descriptions as well. The argument is effective because background information/examples are provided.
What could be added is more evidence about fishing and hunting because that paragraph is quite a bit shorter than the previous paragraph. When it says "all of creation is a gift to mankind...we should be good stewards of it by caring for it," while I agree with that, others may not. It is not something that can be used as an argument because it is an opinion. Maybe instead it could say something along the lines that we should protect creation to help the future generations.
-Katherine Anne
go blood sports!!!!!!!!!! wooooooooooooooohooooooooooo
Delete(I didn't know how else to comment other than anonymous!)
ReplyDelete-Katherine Anne
I agree with both the points given in the article and the comment posted above. At first glance, I did not think of hunting and fishing as a blood sport because they are beneficial to mankind's survival. Upon further reading, I see now that the definition provided does to some extent fit these categories, so excellent job defining blood sport and remaining strong in your stance throughout the argument. You could perhaps improve the argument, however, by adding a statistic of how many animals are tormented, how many people are caught a year conducting these fights, etc. Overall though, I say it is an interesting topic and a good approach to the argument.
ReplyDeleteI understand your arguement and see your point but at the same time I see things from a different point of view. That is a point of view that would see some of your ponts that you make about illegal drugs and weapons to be a misunderstanding a coming from a person who does not know what they talk about but only says what they have seen. Because of that I would consider taking that part out of your arguement and maybe phrase it as posing a danger to the kids by putting them in a area where they could be hurt by fighting dogs, that it something it would be hard to argue against. I think it is good that you used the humane society and not Peta as a reference as a lot of people think negative of peta yet for the most part the humane society has a good reputation. Think about using horse fight as a deterant that one is actually quite sad and hard to look at.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Boyce
I understand and completely agree with your argument. I think the definition along with your closing paragraph brought your point across well. And That is Blood sports that promote animal cruelty with no obvious benefits to man or the environment should be banned. If they are not banned it can introduce kids to violence, as well as illegal drugs and weapons, granted not all fights have drugs and guns, but they are illegal and looked down upon by society. If we say they are ok to have dogs fight to the death whats so wrong with a kid trying some drugs he isn't even hurting anybody but himself. Good argument I enjoyed it and it was a good topic
ReplyDeletehi
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