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The Grand National

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anotheoldgit | 15:51 Mon 12th Apr 2010 | News
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Preforming animals have almost disappeared from appearing at circuses, and there are certain groups that would have zoos closed, given the chance, yet last Saturday saw yet another Grand National run.

This latest abhorrence saw horses sweating profusely before the race started, one horse refuse to join in the race, and a number fall at the fences.

Apart from all this, towards the end of the race one could witness the leading horses being whipped with vigour by their jockeys.

Can anyone not say that this sport is equally cruel?
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Wo,such bitches on here!
Zeuhl, by the way, why are you misspelling my username? Is it because you've just worked out how it sounds? Err thats why I chose it, most users worked it out long ago.
Hardly something to be proud of.

What's your girlfriend's (I know - as if) username? isitinyet?
I don't have a girlfriend I'm gay
Okayyyyy

what's your boyfriend's (I know - as if) username? isitinyet?
Zeuhl you are so funny, I bet you're a hit at parties eh? ie you get hit a lot
Yawn

Bye all.
Yes must be well past your bedtime little boy
I saw a very famous showjumper severely whipping his horse because it had refused to jump. So what do we do? Ban showjumping for fear that he or another rider repeats the dose? Let's also ban all equestrian sports, be they horseracing(flat or jumps), cross country, gymkhanas, dressage, do away with horse shows, etc

No horse will run/jump if it doesn't want to. There is danger involved, of course some get killed or injured, of course jockeys carry whips, but there are rules about their use. The GN winner won over half a million quid. If you owned it and the jockey was giving a it few whacks in a tight finish, and it won, would you not prefer that to the jockey not hitting it in a close finish, and it lost? I think we all know the answer to that one, don't we?

So, if you're going to ban horse racing, are you also going to ban greyhound racing where many dogs are put down when their racing days are over, and where some are also put down because they've been injured? Or how's about fishing, where the fish have the equivalent of a large hook in their mouth and are yanked out of the water? Must be painful to the fish? Or what about goldfish, hamsters, rabbits etc which are kept by millions of people? Or racing pigeons, kept in cramped conditions in sheds and only let out to race, and if they get back too late have their necks wrung? Or how's about animals in zoos and circuses? Aren't they only being exploited by man?

Or what about Crufts which for many a long year has advocated that many breeds of dogs must conform to certain "standards" laid down by them, or else the dogs are not considered "pedigree"? How many dogs have been put down by breeders as a result of not meeting these requisite breeding "standards"? So, let's ban Crufts as well?

Where will it all end?
Yes,ban them all! Any animal cruelty should be against the law.Thanks,Orcadianoil,you made a very good list.
And justin..why join this thread if all you are going to do is show that you have limited empathy,have a stab at vegetarians,and a go at people who care about their environment,say that i'ts too trivial too argue about,and then insult people?
-- answer removed --
Oh that's why they don't care if their horses are injured and have to be killed!Money doesn't come into it at all.I'm glad you made that point,Lucy.I had wondered why they were prepared to risk their horses lives just for a race.
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We all know that in every debate there will be "some for" and "some against", but why do some of you get so rude if a persons views doesn't match yours?

I have even been accused of posting the question, simply to cause trouble, I ask you?

Incidentally no one had any views on Circus & Zoo animals.
IMHO

Animals should be excluded from circuses and I think they pretty much are in UK. The performing animals are required to exhibit unnatural behaviour, the training methods are very suspect and touring the animals around the country is not compatible with providing a good quality of life for them.

The best Zoos e.g. in UK; Chester, Aspinall's, Durrell's, Marwell, Drusilla's, Monkey World etc provide a reasonable quality of life and are now expected to actively contribute to breeding programmes and protecting endangered species.
ganesh and zeuhl please, get something terminal and Foof off
Another priceless contribution to intelligent debate
I know I'm going to be shouted down for this, but...

I really don't understand why we get so het up over animals. Seriously. I honestly don't understand why the British have this fixation with animal welfare or why we can't just accept the fact that the way we feel about animals are contradictory and actually kind of silly. Then we have to move mountains to align with it... it just doesn't make sense to me.
I don't think it is 'silly' K.We are all animals and we humans have got empathy with other animals.Most of us cannot bear to see cruelty in front of us,whether it is human or not.We all know they feel pain as we do,we are not that far removed from them. There is a lot of human suffering going on that needs attention but it doesn't mean that we have only a limited amount of sympathy and can't address animal cruelty as well. I don't think the British are the only people that care,in fact I think a lot of them don't as we see in this thread.
At least you have put forward an argument rather than a personal abusive post from someone with 'such an amusing username'.
PS.I do agree with you that a lot is contradictory,though.i.e when they'll spend thousands rescuing a cow fallen off a cliff and parts of it will probably be on their dinner plate the following week!!
Hi Kromo,
you shouldn't be shouted down; it's a good point. There are apparent contradictions and silliness.
However, i'm not sure just because people are concerned with something they are necessarily 'het up' or 'fixated'.

For me it's an issue of mutual respect. And i think there is a high correlation between a person's showing of respect to animals and showing respect for other people. The extreme illustration of that is the stat on how many murderers/psychopaths start by harming animals.

As Ganesh said, we are all animals, it is an issue of respecting all life. It is sad in a way that 21st century people are even more disassociated from the realities of keeping and eating animals. Many who watch jump racing and are blase about harm to the horses will only eat meat because someone else butchers it and puts it in the supermarket for them.

Of course, most human animals exploit other animals for food and we are not unique in the animal kingdom there.

What is very unique is the human practice of exploiting and deliberately causing suffering to other animals when it is unnecessary and even for for our own pleasure.

Hence the response of most people to dog fighting, bear baiting, bull fighting, hare coursing, stag and fox hunting - and yes, the jump racing/gambling industry.

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