If you've watched the movie 'Hunger Games' or 'Gladiator', you already have a fair idea about what the term 'blood sport' means. It's a game in which one or more of the participants die. In other words, blood is spilled. While blood sports for humans may belong in fiction these days, animals are not as lucky. Animals meet their blood-splattering deaths in the following most violent and illegal betting sports, except one, in which human blood is spilled.
Cock Fighting
Watching a cockfight is not an activity for the faint-hearted. These bird-gladiators are bred to fight and rip off their opponents. Their lethality is multiplied when they have blades attached to their legs. A blow from their powerful legs can split open the opponent's skull or pop out an eye from its socket, scenes that are not uncommon in cockfighting. The gory bloodsport is illegal in the UK, the USA and most parts of the civilized world, but that does not mean Cockfighting doesn’t exist in these countries. Only last month, ex-Romanian princess Irina Walker was arrested in Oregon, USA in the charges of holding 10 cockfighting events during 2012 and 2013.
Dog Fighting
In the air force, they call combat between two aircraft a 'dogfight', although I have no idea why. Watching an actual dogfight can give you nightmares, even if it doesn't make your stomach turn. These dogs can look like hellhounds when they are fighting, the only purpose for which they've been raised and trained. The dog breed Pit Bull Terrier is one of the favourites for dog fighting, and is named so because these dogs were historically put in a pit against each other or against a bull to test the dogs' fighting skills and ferociousness. A dogfight can be a messy affair, with bones cracking and chunks of skin and flesh coming off the dogs. It's illegal to fight dogs in most of the developed world. However, like most illegal things, dog fights do happen and people bet on them too.
Bull Fighting
The Spaniards consider this violent sport a part of their culture and tradition. I'm the bulls wouldn't agree to that, as they are at the receiving end of this cultural cruelty. While bullfighters are also occasionally mauled and even killed by the bulls, it's the bulls that die at every fight. Only recently, a famous 'matador' (Spanish word for a senior bullfighter) quit bullfighting and became a vocal activist for animal rights. He said bulls were basically peaceful animals, but were incited into fighting the matadors, and then killed violently, all in the name of entertainment. You can't help but shed a tear for the poor beast when it is impaled by the matador. Can you bet on bullfighting? Maybe if you are in Spain. Paddypower.com, the famous (and probably the last) website accepting online bullfighting bets stopped taking them almost 4 years ago. There's a global uproar against the cruel sport, and most of the countries have outlawed it.
Cage Fighting
Unlike the first three blood sports on our list, Cage Fighting (or Mixed Martial Arts) has two men fighting each other inside a mesh cage. This type of fighting comes closest to the gladiator matches in ancient Rome. Although controlled through rules and regulations, Cage Fighting can offer spectacles like the floor mat being smeared with blood from a fighter's face. Ironically, it is illegal to bet on a dog fight, but it is okay to bet on an MMA fight. Odds are available for enthusiasts who love to see blood gushing, jaws breaking, and joints dislocating.
Betting on blood sports isn’t healthy. It promotes violence and cruelty.
Nonetheless, violent sports have always been a part of human civilization, and they probably always will be.
Cock Fighting
Watching a cockfight is not an activity for the faint-hearted. These bird-gladiators are bred to fight and rip off their opponents. Their lethality is multiplied when they have blades attached to their legs. A blow from their powerful legs can split open the opponent's skull or pop out an eye from its socket, scenes that are not uncommon in cockfighting. The gory bloodsport is illegal in the UK, the USA and most parts of the civilized world, but that does not mean Cockfighting doesn’t exist in these countries. Only last month, ex-Romanian princess Irina Walker was arrested in Oregon, USA in the charges of holding 10 cockfighting events during 2012 and 2013.
Dog Fighting
In the air force, they call combat between two aircraft a 'dogfight', although I have no idea why. Watching an actual dogfight can give you nightmares, even if it doesn't make your stomach turn. These dogs can look like hellhounds when they are fighting, the only purpose for which they've been raised and trained. The dog breed Pit Bull Terrier is one of the favourites for dog fighting, and is named so because these dogs were historically put in a pit against each other or against a bull to test the dogs' fighting skills and ferociousness. A dogfight can be a messy affair, with bones cracking and chunks of skin and flesh coming off the dogs. It's illegal to fight dogs in most of the developed world. However, like most illegal things, dog fights do happen and people bet on them too.
Bull Fighting
The Spaniards consider this violent sport a part of their culture and tradition. I'm the bulls wouldn't agree to that, as they are at the receiving end of this cultural cruelty. While bullfighters are also occasionally mauled and even killed by the bulls, it's the bulls that die at every fight. Only recently, a famous 'matador' (Spanish word for a senior bullfighter) quit bullfighting and became a vocal activist for animal rights. He said bulls were basically peaceful animals, but were incited into fighting the matadors, and then killed violently, all in the name of entertainment. You can't help but shed a tear for the poor beast when it is impaled by the matador. Can you bet on bullfighting? Maybe if you are in Spain. Paddypower.com, the famous (and probably the last) website accepting online bullfighting bets stopped taking them almost 4 years ago. There's a global uproar against the cruel sport, and most of the countries have outlawed it.
Cage Fighting
Unlike the first three blood sports on our list, Cage Fighting (or Mixed Martial Arts) has two men fighting each other inside a mesh cage. This type of fighting comes closest to the gladiator matches in ancient Rome. Although controlled through rules and regulations, Cage Fighting can offer spectacles like the floor mat being smeared with blood from a fighter's face. Ironically, it is illegal to bet on a dog fight, but it is okay to bet on an MMA fight. Odds are available for enthusiasts who love to see blood gushing, jaws breaking, and joints dislocating.
Betting on blood sports isn’t healthy. It promotes violence and cruelty.
Nonetheless, violent sports have always been a part of human civilization, and they probably always will be.
