Library of Animal Rights History » Animal Welfare-Animal Rights Activists-Advocates-Quotes Against Cruelty to Animals

Cruelty of Hunting, Blood-Sports

Bear-Baiting, Bull-Baiting, Cock-Fighting, Cock-Throwing, Cockfighting, Field Sports, Fishing, Hare Coursing, Shooting, Throwing at Cocks

What name should we bestow on a superior Being, whose whole endeavours were employed, and whose whole pleasure consisted in terrifying, ensnaring, tormenting and destroying mankind ?… I say, what name detestable enough could we find for such a Being ? Yet, if we impartially consider the case, and our intermediate situation, we must acknowledge, that, with regard to inferior animals, just such a Being is a sportsman. (Soame Jenyns, Disquisitions on Several Subjects, "Cruelty to Inferior Animals," 1782)

Antiquity

The first list of protected species is created as a part of King Asoka's edicts in the 3rd century BCE.

What pleasure can it be to a man of refinement, when either a weak man is torn by an extremely powerful animal, or a splendid animal is transfixed by a hunting spear? (Cicero, "Letter to M. Marius," 55 BCE)

And hence it was, as they say, my dearest Soclarus, that men at first became insensible and inhuman having once tasted of murder, and being all accustomed by hunting and following the chase, not only to behold without remorse the wounds and blood of wild beasts, but to rejoice at their being killed and slaughtered.…This gave strength and vigor to whatever was in nature bloodthirsty and savage, and rendering the disposition of man inflexible to pity, had almost erased out of his breast whatever was inclinable to humanity and mildness. Whereas, on the other side, the Pythagoreans, that they might accustom men to the love of humanity and compassion, still inculcated into their minds a particular care of being mild and gentle towards beasts. (Plutarch [46-120], Which are Most Crafty, Water-Animals or Those Creatures that Breed Upon the Land)

Renaissance

Or what delight can there be, and not rather displeasure in hearing the barking and howling of dogs? Or what greater pleasure is there to be felt, when a dog followeth a hare, then when a dog followeth a dog? For one thing is done in both, that is to say, running, if thou hast pleasure therein. But if the hope of slaughter, and the expectation of tearing in pieces the beast doth pleas thee : thou shouldst rather be moved with pity to see a silly innocent hare murdered of a dog: the weak of the stronger, the fearful of the fierce, the innocent of the cruel and unmerciful. (Sir Thomas More, Utopia, "Hunting & Hawking," 1516)

As for me, I could never so much as endure, without remorse and griefe, to see a poore, sillie, and innocent beast pursued and killed, which is harmelesse and voide of defence, and of whom we receive no offence at all. (Montaigne, Of Cruelty, 1575)

I never read of any in the volume of the sacred Scriptures that was a good man, and a hunter. (Philip Stubbes, The Anatomy of Abuses , "Hunting & Hawking," 1583)

"Worst fell to smallest birds, and meanest heard, "Whom now his owne, full like his owne he used. "Yet first but wooll, or fethers off he teard: "And when they were well us'de to be abused, "For hungrie teeth their flesh with teeth he brused: "At length for glutton taste he did them kill: "At last for sport their sillie lives did spill." (Philip Sidney, Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, "Song of a Young Shephard," 1590)

Ay, Margaret; my heart is drown'd with grief, "…That these great lords, and Margaret our queen, "Do seek subversion of thy harmless life? "Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong (William Shakespeare Henry VI, c1597)

Upon the brook that brawls along this wood; "To the which place a poor sequester’d stag, "That from the hunters’ aim had ta’en a hurt, "Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord, "The wretched animal heav’d forth such groans "That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat "Almost to bursting, and the big round tears "Cours’d one another down his innocent nose "…the melancholy Jaques, "Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook, "Augmenting it with tears. "…'Poor deer,' quoth he, 'thou mak'st a testament' "…Yea, and of this our life; swearing that we "Are mere us urpers, tyrants, and what’s worse, "To fright the animals and to kill them up "In their assign’d and native dwelling-place. (William Shakespeare, As You Like It, c1600)

Enlightenment

When a creature has given such convincing and undeniable proofs of the terrors upon him, and the pains and agonies he feels, is there a follower of DesChartres so inur'd to blood, as not to refute, by his commiseration, the philosophy of that vain reasoner ? (Bernard Mandeville, Fable of the Bees, "The Very Poor Liv'd Better than the Rich Before," 1714)

"But let not on thy Hook the tortu’d Worm, "Convulsive, twist in agonizing Folds, "Which by rapacious Hunger swallo' deep "Gives, as you tear it from the bleeding Breast "Of the week, helpless, uncomplaining Wretch, "Harsh Pain and Horror to the tender Hand. (James Thomson, Spring, 1728)

"O let not, aim'd from some inhuman eye. "The gun the music of the coming year "Destroy; and harmless, unsuuspecting harm, "Lay the weak tribes, a miserable prey! "In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground. (James Thomson, Autumn, 1730)

The Barbarity to the harmless Creature at the Stake, one would think, should be an Object of Horror both to the Actors and Spectators of this inhuman Tragedy. To Bastinado and torture a poor Creature out of Sport and Wanttonness is a species of Cruelty that wants a Name. It was a proper Reprimand of the Frogs in the Fable, to the little Masters who were pelting them with Stones: — "Young Gentlemen! pray forbear! This may be Sport to You; but 'tis Death to Us." ("An Enquiry into the Original Meaning of Cock-Throwing," Gentleman's Magazine, 1737)

Hold thy hand a moment, hard-hearted wretch !…What have I done to deserve the treatment I have suffer'd this day, from thee and thy barbarous companions? What have I ever said or done amiss? Whom have I ever injur'd? Did I ever profane the name of my creator ? Or give one moment's disquiet to any creature under heaven or lie, or deceive, or slander, or rob my fellow creatures ? ("Wonderful Speech of a Hen, Gentleman's Magazine, 1749)

What then shall I say to that wretched tribe of men, our cock-throwers? What censure shall I pass upon the diversions of Shrovetide, a season formerly set apart for confession, but now for the commission of sins? Such cruelties deserve a severer censure than any I am able to give them. I can only wish, and 'tis the wish of many a one besides myself, that they were utterly suppressed for ever. (Shrovetide Sports Condemn'd: Cruelties to Brute Creatures Destested," Gentleman's Magazine, 1750)

Clemency to Brutes…Sermons preached on a Shrove-Sunday…to Dissuade from that Species of Cruelty Annually Practiced in England, the Throwing at Cocks, 1761)

What name should we bestow on a superior Being, whose whole endeavours were employed, and whose whole pleasure consisted in terrifying, ensnaring, tormenting and destroying mankind ?… I say, what name detestable enough could we find for such a Being ? Yet, if we impartially consider the case, and our intermediate situation, we must acknowledge, that, with regard to inferior animals, just such a Being is a sportsman. (Soame Jenyns, Disquisitions on Several Subjects, "Cruelty to Inferior Animals," 1782)

The majestic bull is tortured by every mode which malice can invent, for no other offence, but that he is gentle, and unwilling to assail his diabolical tormentors. These, with, innumerable other acts of cruelty, injustice, and ingratitude, are every day committed, not only with impunity, but without censure and even without observation ; but we may be assured, that they cannot finally pass away unnoticed, and unretaliated. (Soame Jenyns, Disquisitions on Several Subjects, "Cruelty to Inferior Animals," 1782)

Romantic Age

Detested sport, "That owes its pleasures to another's pain, "That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks "Of harmless nature, dumb, but yet endu'd "With eloquence, that agonies inspire, "Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs! "Vain tears, alas! and sighs that never find "A corresponding tone in jovial souls. (William Cowper, The Task, "The Garden," 1785)

And you, O Natives of the Flood, should play "Unhurt admit your crystal realms, and sleep: "No Hook should tear you from your loves away; "No net surrounding form its fatal sweep. (John Wolcot, A Moral Reflection on the Preceding Elegy [The Royal Bullocks], 1787)

WHY flyest thou away, with fear? "Trust me, there's nought of danger near; "I have no wicked hooke, "All cover'd with a snaring bait, "Alas ! to tempt thee to thy fate, "And dragge thee from the brooke. "O harmless Tenant of the Flood, "I do not wish to spill thy blood; "For Nature unto thee "Perchance hath given a tender wife, "And children dear, to charme thy life, "As she hath done for me. "Enjoy thy streame, O harmless Fish "And when an Angler, for his dish, "Through gluttony's vile sin, "Attempts, a wretch, to pull thee out; "God give thee strength, O gentle Trout, "To pull the raskall in! (John Wolcot, Ballade To a Fish of the Brooke, 1787)

A basket of provisions was sent thither, with books, and Emily's lute: for fishing-tackle he had no use, for he could never find amusement in torturing or destroying. (Anne Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794)

Ah! shun not us, ye timid race! "We never urge the savage chase; "We would not stain your spotted sides "With cruel murder's crimson tides. (John Bidlake, Written at Mount Edgcumbe, 1794)

Here let the muse the fisher's wiles deplore; "Cruel delight! from native beds to drag "The wounded fools, and spoil their silv'ry scales, "And spotted pride, writh'd on the tort'rous hook, "In patient suff'rance dumb. (John Bidlake, To The Sea, 1796)

The baiting of animals, as it is called, that is, chaining and staking down wretched captives, to be worried and torn to pieces by other animals, purposely trained for such usless barbarity, is absolutely unlawful, contrary to the light of reason, and the dictates of humanity, the foul disgrace of common sense, and never ought to be tolerated for a moment, in a government which claims to be instituted for the protection of rights, and the advancement of morality. (John Lawrence, A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses, and on the Moral Duties of Man Towards the Brute Creation, "The Philosophy of Sports," 1798)

Bull-baiting, Cock-fighting, and Throwing at Cocks; all of which the less need be said, as so little can be brought forward in their defence. It may be safely affirmed of all of them, that they are the sources of much useless and unnecessary pain to animals, and therefore we should want no other reason for condemning them. (Thomas Young, Humanity to Animals, "On Cruelty to Animals, in Sports Common to Men and Boys," 1798)

If then a grant from God was requisite, in order to our having the right to kill animals for food, how much more must such a grant be requisite in order to our having a right to kill them for sport ? We may be allowed therefore, to enquire of all who hunt, shoot, or fish, for sport, upon what scriptural grant they found their right to take away the lives of animals in the course of those diversions: and since it is impossible for them to produce any such grant, we are warranted in pronouncing hunting, shooting, and fishing for sport, to be unlawful, cruel, and sinful. (Thomas Young, Humanity to Animals, "On Hunting, Shooting and Fishing, for Sport," 1798)

The regal bull, ignobly now confin'd, "Torn by the dogs, and madden'd by the chain; (Rev. C. Hoyle, Ode to Humanity, 1798)

What opinion then are we to form of those amusements, whose very foundation is laid in barbarity and bloodshed ? and where mobs are collected together to riot and feast in the unrestrained indulgence of a cruel appetite ? Such practices are much better calculated for training up men to be partakers in the bloody rites of Moloch, than disciples of a merciful and benevolent Saviour. They ought therefore in every place, and in every variety of appearances they may assume, to be discouraged and suppressed as nurseries of vice, corruption, and impiety. (Legh Richmond, A Sermon on the Sin of Cruelty towards the Brute Creation, 1801)

Cock-fights and bull-fights, the chase of the hare and the fox, fishing, and other amusements of the same kind, necessarily suppose a want of reflection or a want of humanity; since these sports inflict upon sensitive beings the most lively sufferings, and the most lingering and painful death that can be imagined. (Jeremey Bentham, Theory of Legislation, Principles of the Penal Code, "The Culture of Benevolence," 1802)

Here his poor bird th' inhuman Cocker brings, "Arms his hard heel and clips his golden wings; "With spicy food th' impatient spirit feeds, "And shouts and curses as the battled bleeds. "Struck through the brain, deprived of both his eyes, "The vanquish'd bird must combat till he dies; "Must faintly peck at his victorious foe, "And real and stagger at each feeble blow: "When fallen, the savage grasps his dabbled plumes, "His blood-stain'd arms, for other deaths assumes; "And dams the craven-fowl, that lost his stake, "And only bled and perish'd or his sake. (George Crabbe, The Parish Register, 1807)

Lord Erskine, The Speech of Lord Erskine…on the Bill for Preventing Malicious and Wanton Cruelty to Animals, 1809)

Victorian Age

Now, on the very face of it, this amateur butchery is, in one sense, the most wanton and indefensible of all possible violations of the principle of animals rights. If animals—or men for that matter—have of necessity to be killed, let them be killed accordingly ; but to seek one's own amusement out of the death-pangs of other beings, this is saddening stupidity indeed ! (Henry Salt, Animals' Rights, "Sport, or Amateur Butchery," 1892)

The sporting instinct is due to sheer callousness and insensibility ; the sportsman, by force of habit, or by force of hereditary influence, cannot understand or sympathize with the sufferings he causes, and being, in the great majority of instances, a man of slow perception, he actually finds it much easier to follow the hounds than to follow an argument. (Henry Salt, Animals' Rights, "Sport, or Amateur Butchery," 1892)

That "it would have to be killed anyhow" is a truly deplorable reason for torturing any animal whatsoever; it is an argument which would equally have justified the worst barbarities of the Roman amphitheater. To exterminate wolves, and other dangerous species, may, indeed, at certain places and times, be necessary and justifiable enough…but the sportsman nowadays "preserves" them (note the unintended humor of the term !), and then, by a happy afterthought, claims the gratitude of the animals themselves for his humane and benevolent interposition. (Henry Salt, Animals' Rights, "Sport, or Amateur Butchery," 1892)

How many times have I changed hands? I think it is twelve times—I cannot remember; and each time it was down a step lower, and each time I got a harder master. They have been cruel, every one; they have worked me night and day in degraded employments, and beaten me; they have fed me ill, and some days not at all. And so I am but bones, now, with a rough and frowsy skin humped and cornered upon my shrunken body—that skin which was once so glossy, that skin which she loved to stroke with her hand. I was the pride of the mountains and the Great Plains; now I am a scarecrow and despised. These piteous wrecks that are my comrades here say we have reached the bottom of the scale, the final humiliation; they say that when a horse is no longer worth the weeds and discarded rubbish they feed to him, they sell him to the bull-ring for a glass of brandy, to make sport for the people and perish for their pleasure. (Mark Twain, A Horse's Tale, 1906)