Should we abolish animals in sports? – DW – 29-04-2024

Although animals have been used by humans for thousands of years as a source of sporting entertainment, ethical concerns and questions surrounding welfare are becoming increasingly vocal.

“In Australia we have a major horse race every year, the Melbourne Cup. And it’s becoming increasingly controversial because almost every year we can see horses fall, break their legs and die during that race,” says philosophy lecturer Heather Browning. at Britain’s University of Southampton, which focuses on animal welfare, ethics and awareness.

Because the stakes are often high, some animals are given drugs or whipped to achieve the desired performance.

“There’s a lot of money at stake, so you obviously have unscrupulous trainers or veterinarians who are willing to push these horses to their limits,” said Joanna Grossman, senior policy advisor at the Animal Welfare Institute in the United States.

Animals can feel pain

For a long time, the extent to which animals experience pain, suffering and fear has been hotly contested, making it all the more “easier to exploit them,” according to Grossman.

But in recent years, an interdisciplinary community of researchers in the field of animal sentience has emerged that studies the ability of animals to experience pleasure or suffering.

“Everyone is very confident that mammals – dogs, horses, primates – feel pain the way we humans do. They have brains that are structurally very similar to ours,” Browning said, adding that there is now a broad consensus that birds and fish are equally conscious beings.

Increasing the ban on dog racing

Some popular sporting events based on animal performance have already been banned in countries around the world.

Dog racing, in which greyhounds chase a mechanical lure around a track, is one of them. At times this sport attracted more spectators than its more prominent rival horse racing and was mainstream entertainment for decades.

But recently it has come under scrutiny for confining the animals to solitary lives in kennels, as well as for its brutal training methods and what happens to the dogs when they are no longer needed on the track.

“Many of the training methods used to ensure that the animals perform are quite harsh and based on punishment. So what happens to them when they are not on display is the main concern for their welfare,” Browning said.

Dog racing remains legal in only ten countries around the world – four of which are in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Wild animal shows are becoming less and less popular

Traditional circus performances involving animals such as elephants, tigers, giraffes and lions are also facing increasing backlash. The same goes for the use of dolphins and other marine animals in marine animal shows.

“They’re being abused outright to get them to behave the way the trainer wants them to do, because that’s not something that a wild, exotic animal that should be roaming free is going to be inclined to do on its own,” he said. Grossmann. “So you may have to literally beat them into submission to get them to do that.”

The use of wild animals in circuses is banned in many countries around the world, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, India and Iran. However, it is still legal in many European countries.

In 2021, a million EU citizens called for a bloc-wide ban on the use of wild animals in major top shows, after research found that almost 90% of animals rescued from European circuses suffered from behavioral problems and self-harm, or had physical problems as a result of practices such as declawing.

France, the EU country that sometimes holds the largest number of wild animals for use in circuses, has decided to ban them from the ring from 2028.

However, in Germany it remains legal to display wild animals in the circus, despite polls showing that 75% of Germans are against it as well as an increasing awareness of how lions, bears and primates are transported across countries.

“It just doesn’t seem like there’s any way to house an animal in a sufficiently large and complex enclosure if you’re trying to move it all the time,” says Browning.

‘Blood sport has no future’

Blood sports such as bullfighting, where a bull and a matador face off in a public spectacle, have also become increasingly controversial.

According to the European animal welfare organization Humane Society International (HSI), approximately 250,000 bulls are killed every year during organized fights..

Grossman describes it as a “very violent and very cruel sport”, rooted in brutality. “If the goal is just to terrorize a poor animal and ultimately kill them, then to me that is a very egregious example of unnecessary and unjustified suffering.”

“But the good news is that we have seen a move in several jurisdictions and countries to ban forms of bloodsport,” she added.

Bullfighting is already banned in many countries where it was once popular, including Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Italy and the United Kingdom. Today it is only legal in eight countries around the world – three of which are in Europe: Spain, France and Portugal.

And while Grossman says there will likely always be those who believe bloodsports should remain legal, she has also seen “much more public concern about animal welfare.”

Is there a way to keep animals in sports in a responsible manner?

“The way the animals are housed and cared for plays a huge role. Most of their lives are spent away from the sport. And many are simply killed when they are no longer useful. That’s why rules around this are vital ,” Browning said. .

But it is not enough to just create these laws. “We need to ensure that there are enough inspectors, that they do their work on a regular basis,” she added.

Social media has also helped show people what happens behind closed doors, Grossmann says.

“The public has seen images of what is really going on,” she said. And Browning agrees, adding that seeing abuse can make people refuse to pay for something where animal cruelty is taking place.

Edited by: Sarah Steffen