While food and clothing are among the most visible ways animals are used by humans, animals are also widely used in recreational and sporting activities. Unlike industries that often frame themselves around conservation or education, animal-based sports tend to be openly centred on entertainment.
This article focuses on recreational uses of animals in contexts where participation is not necessary for subsistence or survival.
Hunting
Hunting must be discussed carefully. In some communities, subsistence hunting remains essential for food security and cultural continuity. This is not the focus here.
In industrialised societies, however, most hunting is recreational. In the United States alone, millions of licensed hunters participate each year, and government surveys indicate that recreational hunting accounts for the vast majority of reported game kills (1). Precise accounts of the number of animals killed through recreational hunting vary, but in North America alone, tens of millions of mammals and birds are killed annually (1).
A common defence of hunting is that it provides a quick and humane death. What little research there is on the topic casts doubt on this claim. Studies of white-tailed deer shot with archery equipment have found that a significant proportion are wounded and not recovered, likely dying later from blood loss, infection, or predation (2). Firearm hunting also often results in non-fatal wounding; UK studies have documented cases where deer required multiple shots or experienced prolonged time before death (3).
Even when death occurs quickly, the ethical question remains distinct from welfare concerns. If killing is not necessary for survival, is it justified for recreation?
Many hunters argue that hunting is more ethical than purchasing factory-farmed meat, but this comparison assumes animal consumption is necessary. Most major health organisations now recognise that appropriately planned plant-based diets can meet our nutritional needs. For individuals with access to alternatives, the ethical defence shifts from health and necessity to preference and enjoyment.
Recreational Fishing
Recreational fishing is often perceived as less serious than hunting, mostly because fish are culturally assigned a lower moral status. Many people do not even think of fish as animals in the same way as mammals or birds.
Scientific consensus has shifted significantly in recent decades. Reviews of neurological and behavioural research conclude that fish possess the anatomical structures and behavioural responses associated with pain perception (4). Research also indicates that many species display complex cognitive and social behaviours (5).
Fish caught by line experience tissue damage, stress responses, and often suffocation when removed from water. Rapid pressure changes during deep-water capture can cause barotrauma, including swim bladder rupture (6).
Catch-and-release fishing is frequently defended as a harmless alternative. However, post-release mortality varies by species, hook type, water temperature, and handling methods. Meta-analyses estimate mortality rates ranging from under 10 percent to over 30 percent in some contexts, with higher rates for deeply hooked fish (6).
Even when fish survive, physiological stress, injury, and the subsequent inability to feed are well documented. As with hunting, the central ethical question is not merely whether some animals survive, but whether causing stress and injury for recreation is justified when alternatives exist.
Horse Racing
Unlike hunting and fishing, horse racing does not intentionally involve killing animals. However, injury and fatality rates remain a major welfare concern.
Industry data and independent investigations report that hundreds of racehorses die annually from catastrophic injuries in the United States alone (7, 8). Additional deaths occur during training and transport, which are not always reflected in public statistics (8).
Racehorses are often trained and raced at a young age, before full skeletal maturation. Veterinary research indicates that early intensive training increases the risk of musculoskeletal injury (9).
The economic structure of the industry also influences welfare outcomes. Horses who can no longer compete may be sold, exported, or enter slaughter pipelines despite regulatory efforts (8).
Supporters of racing often argue that horses enjoy running. While horses do require exercise, the ethical question concerns coercion, intensity, injury risk, and breeding practices – not merely whether running itself is beneficial.
Recreational Riding
Recreational horse riding is commonly viewed as benign, particularly where strong human–animal bonds are formed.
Nevertheless, ethical and welfare concerns remain. Traditional training methods, historically referred to as “breaking”, involve conditioning horses to accept riders and equipment. Modern approaches vary widely, ranging from force-based methods to more gentle, gradual habituation.
Some behavioural researchers have suggested that compliance in certain contexts may reflect learned helplessness, a psychological state in which animals cease resistance when escape is impossible (12). This interpretation is debated, but it highlights the need for careful scrutiny.
Biomechanical studies also indicate that spinal loading, saddle fit, and rider weight can contribute to musculoskeletal strain over time (13). As with other sports, ethical evaluation depends on the balance between enrichment, coercion, and risk.
Greyhound Racing
Greyhound racing has faced increasing scrutiny in several countries. Regulatory data in the UK and Australia document thousands of injuries annually, including fractures and spinal injuries (9). Fatalities occur both during races and training.
Post-retirement outcomes have also raised significant concerns. Investigations have revealed that large numbers of greyhounds are euthanised, exported, or otherwise unaccounted for after their racing careers end (10).
Several jurisdictions have moved to ban or phase out greyhound racing in response to welfare concerns, citing injury rates and retirement failures (10).
Rodeos and Blood Sports
Rodeo events such as bull riding, calf roping, and steer wrestling are defended as cultural traditions and displays of skill.
Veterinary organisations and animal welfare groups have raised concerns regarding stress, injury risk, and the use of devices such as flank straps and electric prods (11). Injury surveillance has documented fractures, dislocations, soft tissue injuries and visible stress in participating animals (11).
Other animal fighting practices, including cockfighting and bullfighting, intentionally involve animal injury or death and are illegal in many countries (11).
Welfare and Ethics
Across these diverse activities, the central ethical question remains consistent: When animals are used in sport, are their interests being given due consideration?
In subsistence contexts, animal use may be necessary for survival. In most industrialised societies, however, participation in animal-based sports is not essential. This shifts the ethical burden of justification.
A welfare-based critique focuses on injury, stress, and mortality. A rights-based critique asks whether using animals for recreation, even under improved welfare standards, is ethically defensible at all.
Different ethical frameworks will yield different conclusions. What is clear is that animal sport is not morally neutral. Justifting the use of animals in sport relies on the prioritisation of human entertainment over the greater interests of the animals involved.
Bibliography
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-mystery-of-the-1-000-greyhounds-who-retire-and-then-vanish-9818554.html - Reuters. Horses Injured at Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.
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