Unusual animal sports

Once upon a time, people worshiped animals, dreaming about their abilities – to run or swim fast, to be strong, agile and flexible. Why, many people are still watching with admiration how, for example, a cheetah accelerates to 100 kilometers per hour. Of course, representatives of the fauna are much more enduring than humans, and even the toughest athletes are far from them. However, among us there are still daredevils, to recall at least a bullfight – a fight between a bullfighter and a bull. But it is considered a spectacle and, fortunately, is banned in most countries. And we will talk about the competitions in which animals take part – paired with bipeds or against their own kind. And how humane it is.

Indeed, the veterinarian, surgeon, dentist and traumatologist Yevgeny Kostylev divides sports tournaments with our smaller brothers into those that take place in tandem with an athlete and without him. The latter include different races: dogs, piglets, ostriches, goats, camels, ferrets, blue crabs, pigeons, frogs, snails, turtles, cockroaches and others.

Speaking of “red mustachioed”. Traditionally, such races are held in Australia, where there is even a corresponding national holiday. However, cockroach races owe their appearance, oddly enough, to our country. “The first competitions at fairs were arranged in Russia by merchants in the period from 1812 to 1917,” our interlocutor said. – In my opinion, if there is no risk to the animal’s life, sports trials are acceptable. But I am against, for example, dog fighting, because I consider it inhumane, despite the preparedness and even breeding of special breeds.

A person takes part, for example, in rodeo, where the rider, using only a rope, must stay on the back of a bull for eight seconds, polo, say, on elephants and, of course, equestrian sports.

Horses are favorite animals from childhood of the instructor of riding food and dog handler of the service for walking and overexposure of animals “Guldog” Darya Makeeva. In this area, she says, there are quite a lot of interesting directions: classic – horse racing, show jumping (jumping over an obstacle), dressage (figure riding in the arena), triathlon (show jumping, dressage, cross) and new ones – runs, driving (carriage control in the arena ), agility (passing a track consisting of obstacles for a horse) and others that are gaining popularity.

A lot of curious, adds our interlocutor, and in the dog world:

• coursing – running after a mechanical hare (suitable for “hunters”);
• canicross – the run of the dog and the owner, connected by a special harness, and the four-legged one is in front, as if setting the direction;
• dog frisbee is a game with elements of acrobatics, the essence of which is that the pet catches the disk thrown by the trainer and performs it as effectively as possible.

“An animal needs to prepare for competitions in the same way as a person. Loads should be gradualDaria explains. – Animals that only sleep, eat, and walk can begin to gain weight and become lethargic. This is especially true for dogs that are genetically disposed to physical activity. Ignoring this fact is also inhumane.”

As for training, they can only be a joy, especially if your favorite animal is nearby. There are many places for such activities in St. Petersburg – from small squares to the embankment of the Gulf of Finland, where you can practice, for example, canicross. For a dog frisbee, a spacious park is more suitable, like Zanevsky or Heroes of the Firemen. Soon another large zone will appear in the city, where everyone can find themselves. We are talking about a territory of 12 hectares around the new multifunctional sports complex SKA Arena. A football field, athletics tracks, a long jump pit, various sites, including those for passing TRP standards, outdoor simulators – this and much more will be presented to St. Petersburg residents in the spring of 2023. In addition, there will be other sectors – festival, family and walking. All sorts of shrubs and trees have already been planted, engineering networks have been laid, and the landscape has been formed. After the opening, up to ten thousand people will be able to stay here at the same time. The stadium itself is designed for 21.5 thousand hockey fans and 23 thousand spectators of concert and entertainment shows.

Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the analytical agency WMT Consult, believes that the practice of tournaments with the participation of representatives of the fauna cannot be called humane or inhumane. Here, she believes, other terms would fit – “naturally” and “unnaturally” for this or that animal:

“It is possible to single out competitions that are more related to traditions than sports. So, digging deeper, we find out interesting facts, for example, from the history of the area, as well as beliefs and customs that were (and somewhere remained) cruel. The same bullfighting, which has already been made illegal in some parts of Spain, reflects the superiority of man over the forces of nature. In some places we act as spectators: fighting mantises or crickets in China and so on, where biting off the head is quite natural, although it looks shocking.

Civilized treatment of our smaller brothers, our interlocutor recalls, is closely related to training methods, legal norms, as well as public condemnation of cruelty. The latter, according to Andrey Malygin, Head of the Department of Sports Marketing at Synergy University, is one of the main problems in sports. Take, for example, perhaps the most sensational recent case that occurred in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics:

“At the games, due to injuries received during the passage of the 20th barrier on rough terrain, the horse of a Swiss jockey was euthanized. A few days later, the German pentathlete Annika Schleu, during a show jumping competition, tried to force her horse to follow commands with spurs and a whip. The coach urged the athlete to be tougher, after which he was disqualified.

Proceedings and pressure from animal protection organizations led to the fact that in early November the International Federation of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM) decided to exclude horseback riding from the program of the Olympic Games after 2024.