Badger-baiting

Badgers have had a particularly rough time in the name of human entertainment. The baiting with dogs of restrained or captive badgers at country fairs, in tavern yards or market squares was a familiar sight in many parts of Britain until the early part of the 19th century.

Badger-baiting was made illegal in 1835 and is currently an offence under the Protection of Animals Act 1911, but like fox-hunting, has not died out. 

With its tough coat and bone structure, the badger can take considerable punishment - ensuring a long battle where both badger and dogs suffer appalling injury. These days, baiting is carried out in two ways:

• At the sett from which the badgers have been dug. Badger-diggers send specially trained terriers to attack badgers in their underground setts, and then dig through the tunnel roof to expose the fight – ending when the badger is bludgeoned to death with a spade. The badger is then usually buried in the sett, sometimes together with the body of any dog fatally injured in the battle.
  
  
• The animal is captured and removed from its sett and forced to fight for its life against a pack of terriers.

Cock-fighting 

This was a centuries-old blood sport where two or more specially bred birds, known as gamecocks, were placed in an enclosure to fight, for onlookers' entertainment. Usually bets were made on the outcome of the fight, with the last bird standing being declared the winner.  

Lasting anywhere from several minutes to more than half an hour, a cock-fight would usually end in the death of one of the birds, or both – the birds couldn’t escape from the fight, regardless of how exhausted or injured they became.

Common injuries included punctured lungs, broken bones and pierced eyes. Such severe injuries occurred because the birds' legs were usually fitted with razor-sharp steel blades. These artificial spurs were designed to puncture and mutilate.

Although illegal in England since 1835, the ancient practice of cock-fighting has continued in secrecy, with spectators placing bets on the outcome of each fight. Gamecocks are fed on special diets, often including anabolic steroids to improve muscle mass and aggression.

Bull-baiting

Bull-baiting was the most easily seen and popular of animal "sports" in 18th-century England. Like badger-baiting, it was associated with fairs and local celebrations, though in some places it happened far more frequently than just special occasions.

Almost every town in England had a bull-baiting ring. In Queen Anne's time it was performed in London at Hockley Hole, twice a week. At Stamford and Tutbury in Staffordshire, a maddened bull was annually hunted through the streets from a very early period.

Before the event, the bull's nose was usually blown full of pepper so it was infuriated before the baiting. A variation of bull-baiting was "pinning the bull", where dogs would be set upon the bull one at a time, a successful attack resulting in the dog fastening his teeth strongly in the bull's snout.

A bill making bull-baiting illegal was introduced into the House of Commons in 1802, but was defeated by 13 votes. Richard Martin was the MP behind getting the Animal Protection Act through Parliament in 1822. 

This, the world’s first animal anti-cruelty law, made cruelty to cattle, horses and sheep illegal, but bull-baiting was not specifically banned until 1835. The law then forbade the keeping of any house, pit or other place for baiting or fighting any bull, bear, dog or other animal.

But even then it is recorded the injunction was ignored, with bull-baiting taking place as late as 1878 and beyond.

Bull-fighting

Bull-fighting is Spain’s best-known (although at the same time, most controversial) popular custom. Still perfectly legal in most parts, it is a good example of how differently two sides view a country’s iconic activity. Is it barbarism or an artistic expression similar to dance?

It does have passionate supporters who justify the act by calling it a tradition deeply ingrained in their national cultures. They make the point that the objective is, in fact, to avoid a brutal confrontation by using the human attributes of intelligence, grace and elegance.

The writer Ernest Hemingway said of it in his 1932 non-fiction book Death In The Afternoon: "Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honour."

Spanish laws against cruelty to animals have abolished most archaic entertainment involving animals, while including specific exceptions for bull-fighting.

Opponents maintain that no matter what its history, bull-fighting is the torture, mutilation and slaughter of animals for entertainment, and the cause of death for around 30,000 bulls each year in Spain.