Blood sport

Ablood sportorbloodsportis a category ofsportorentertainmentthat involvesbloodshed.^[1]Common examples of the former include combat sports such ascockfightinganddog fighting,and some forms ofhuntingandfishing.Activities characterized as blood sports, but involving only human participants, include theancient Roman gladiatorialgames.

Etymology[edit]

According to Tanner Carson, the earliest use of the term is in reference to mounted hunting, where the quarry would be actively chased, as infox huntingorhare coursing.Beforefirearms,a hunter usingarrowsor aspearmight also wound an animal, which would then be chased and perhaps killed at close range, as inmedieval boarhunting. The term was popularised by authorHenry Stephens Salt.

Later, the term seems to have been applied to various kinds ofbaitingand forced combat:bull-baiting,bear-baiting,cockfighting,and later developments such asdog fightingandrat-baiting.The animals were specially bred for fighting. In theVictorian era,social reformersbegan a vocal opposition to such activities, claiming grounds ofethics,morality,andanimal welfare.

Current issues[edit]

Online videos[edit]

Many online video-sharing websites such asYouTubedo not allow videos of animal bloodsports to be shown on the site, except for educational purposes, such as inpublic service announcements.^[2]^[3]

Animal fighting[edit]

Limitations on blood sports have been enacted in much of the world. Certain blood sports remain legal under varying degrees of control in certain locations (e.g.,bullfightingandcockfighting) but have declined in popularity elsewhere.^[4]^[5]Proponents of blood sports are widely cited to believe that they are traditional within the culture.^[6]Bullfighting aficionados, for example, do not regard bullfighting as a sport but as a cultural activity.^[7]It is sometimes called a tragicspectacle,because in many forms of the event, the bull is invariably killed and the bullfighter is always at risk of death.

Hunting and recreational fishing[edit]

Trophy huntingandfox huntingin particular have been disparaged as blood sports by those concerned about animal welfare, animal ethics and conservation.^[8]

Recreational fishingwas once described as a blood sport by those within the recreation.^[9]

In fiction[edit]

Blood sports have been a common theme in fiction. Whilehistorical fictiondepicts real-life sports such asgladiatorial gamesandjousting,speculative fiction,especiallydystopic science fiction,suggests variants of blood sports in a contemporary or future society. Some popular works themed on blood sports areBattle Royale,The Hunger Games,The Running Man,The Long Walk,Fight Club,Death Race 2000,Amores Perros,Squid Game,Bloodsport,andThe Most Dangerous Game.Blood sports are also a common setting for video games (Apex Legends,Danganronpa,Street Fighter,Mortal Kombatetc.), making up much of thefighting gamegenre.

List of blood sports[edit]

Human – Human[edit]

Human – Non-human Animal[edit]

Non-human Animal – Non-human Animal[edit]

References[edit]

^"Blood sport".Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary(11 ed.). Merriam-Webster, Inc. 2003. p.134.ISBN 978-0-87779-807-1.Retrieved20 May2017.
^Brooke, Simon (19 August 2007)."Animal cruelty films on YouTube".The Sunday Times.Archived fromthe originalon 19 May 2011.Retrieved20 May2017.
^Clarke, Matt (17 May 2007)."Uproar at fish cruelty on YouTube".Practical Fishkeeping.Archived fromthe originalon 17 September 2008.Retrieved20 May2017.
^Lewine, Edward(July 2005).Death and the Sun: A Matador's Season in the Heart of Spain.Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 231.ISBN 978-0-618-26325-7.Archivedfrom the original on 2 May 2019.Retrieved20 May2017.
^Mitchell, Timothy (July 1991).Blood Sport: a social history of Spanish bullfighting.University of Pennsylvania Press. p.244.ISBN 978-0-8122-3129-8.
^Stratton, Jim (18 January 2005)."Cockfighting Persists as Underground Sport".Puerto Rico Herald.Archived fromthe originalon 6 October 2008.Retrieved20 May2017.
^"Bullfighting in Spain".October 31, 2018.Archivedfrom the original on August 11, 2019.RetrievedAugust 11,2019.
^Greenwood, George(2015) [1915]."The Cruelty of Sport".InSalt, Henry S.(ed.).Killing for Sport.George Bell & Sons.pp. 1–33.Archivedfrom the original on 13 October 2015.Retrieved20 May2017.
^Wyatt, Bob (2013).What Trout Want: The Educated Trout and Other Myths.Stackpole Books. p. 3.ISBN 978-0-8117-1179-1.Archivedfrom the original on 2 May 2019.Retrieved20 May2017.