Gallery · Ancient to 2025

Animals made to fight

For grades 9-12. The history of blood sports and the laws that ended most of them: law and history only.

For grades 9-12 and up. This room covers history and law only. It shows no methods, no fights and no injuries.

Ancient world to 1835

Blood sports in history

history

Roman arenas staged fights between animals, and medieval and early modern Europe held bear-baiting, bull-baiting and cockfights as public entertainment with heavy betting. Britain banned baiting and cockfighting in the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835, one of the first animal-protection laws anywhere.

Why did ideas about cruelty to animals change in the 1800s?

Sources: UK Parliament, Cruelty to Animals Act 1835; Keith Thomas, Man and the Natural World (1983)

SI painting, reconstruction · made with an OpenAI image model for newSchoolWorks.com

1976 to 2019

American law today

historyeconomics

Dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states. Federal law made animal fighting a federal felony in 2007, made attending a fight a federal crime in 2014, and in 2018 extended the ban to U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, where cockfighting had been legal. Louisiana was the last state to ban cockfighting, in 2008.

Why might a ban that is popular in one place be resisted in another?

Sources: 7 U.S.C. 2156, Animal fighting venture prohibition; Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, section 12616; Animal Legal Defense Fund, state animal-fighting laws

Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)

2010 to 2025

Bullfighting: culture and law

historyeconomics

Bullfighting is legal in Spain, Portugal, France's southern regions and parts of Latin America. Catalonia banned it in 2010, but Spain's Constitutional Court overturned the ban in 2016. Colombia passed a law in 2024 to end bullfighting by 2027, and Mexico City in 2025 approved a form with no harm to the bull.

When tradition and animal welfare collide, who should decide?

Sources: Spain Constitutional Court, ruling 177/2016 on the Catalan ban; Colombia Law 2385 of 2024; Reuters, Mexico City approves bloodless bullfighting (March 2025)

SI painting, reconstruction · made with an OpenAI image model for newSchoolWorks.com

1800s to today

From fighting fish to show fish

historybiologytrade & commercialization

Betta splendens were kept and matched in Thailand for centuries, which is why they are still called Siamese fighting fish. Today nearly all bettas are bred for long fins and color for the aquarium trade, and Thailand named the betta its national aquatic animal in 2019. Males are kept apart because they defend territory.

How can an animal bred for one purpose be remade for another?

Sources: Kwon et al., Genomic consequences of domestication of the Siamese fighting fish, Science Advances 8 (2022)

SI painting, reconstruction · made with an OpenAI image model for newSchoolWorks.com

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