does a fish feel pain, fear, terror? They don't have the same sort of brain, nervous system that man does ....but they do have them - and they do react to injury, shock, stress.
All of the arguments regarding it being their natural instinct to fight, part of the Thai culture, a tradition, these are the sort of excuses we hear on a regular basis in my work at an animal welfare agency. People who fight dogs claim they love it.....and they HAVE been bred for it.....but does that make it right. Bears are kept in small cages, they are declawed, teeth removed and they are abused physically and mentally in the name of culture and tradition....is this right. It is the culture in some cultures for girl children to be circumsized.....does the fact that it is 'tradition' and 'part of the culture' make it right. It is the tradition and culturally acceptable in some countries for children (especially girl children who are of no consequence) to be sold into slavery to help support the family.....is this right. There are vanishing species of tigers, elephants, whales and many other species because their tusks, feet, byproducts have traditional uses.......is this right.
Even if it's not against the law of man to raise and keep fish to use for fighting ....surely it is against the law of mankind. To breed, raise or keep any living thing to be used for fighting just so that we can be entertained by watching them be injured, terrified, in pain diminishes us......these fish do not have the choice to swim away.
And I'm sorry ...but to me the claim that something is ok because it is a tradition....doesn't make it right.
sue
I am allowed to make spelling errors ya know.... 
Anyways, everyone has their own opinnions on how they choose to raise their betas, so I end my discussion of that topic here before those questions go flying about how I 'fight' my Betas. And for effect, my Beta "Big Blue" is almost 9 years old, 8 inches long and has been in 49 competitions....not one injury and only had one case of Ich.
Could not have said it better myself.
