omg look at this

[red-devil0602]

take a look at this
http/www.bettamania.com/

 

[lilfishie]

omg how horrible how could people fight them they must have a pea as a brain

 

[daudy_dojo]

 

[alabaster]

Those ************* sons of *******. **** them kiss my *** lets me and you fight you ********. ****!

 

[Mariah]

How horrible Is there a way to shut them down? Bettamom do something!

 

[BettaMomma]

As much as I'd love to kick some ass on them, in some cultures fighting bettas is a tradition and is considered a perfectly acceptable sport. A lot of cultures take really great care of their fish to be top prize fighters. In most cases, they will keep the fish as pets after the fights and give them a nice comfortable place to spend the rest of their lives. Most of these fish live through the fights, unlike the poor unfortunate little souls we rescue who have had a horrible life up to the point where we get them and don't have the strength to recover, and go on to recover quite nicely because they have been so well cared for and are in wonderful condition.

Although I think it's INCREDIBLY inhumane, cruel and how on EARTH anyone can watch 2 living, feeling beings rip each other apart for sport is absolutely beyond me. I don't care if it is tradition or not, it disgusts me, makes my stomach turn and it makes me see crazy when the adrenaline rushes thru my head.

I have sicked the SPCA on a ring of kids who were fighting bettas in New York - to our advantage, stupidly they were slipping across the border into Canada to hold the fights in Toronto. The Ontario-based SPCA went after them, and although they could not actually catch or find them in the act, they are still monitoring them to this day.

And... although I highly respect traditions and beliefs, but when lives are involved I just think it's completely wrong.

I know there will be some who pelt me for what I have said here about thinking it's wrong, but I just do.

 

[red-devil0602]

shame there ain't traditions or beliefs on cutting their plums off for doing this

 

[bkk_group]

OH MY GOD...HOW HORRIBLE

 

[WILDER]

It's awful if you are an animal lover and don't beleive in it, and there nothing you can do.

 

[Synirr]

Honestly, I don't think most people would be nearly as appauled by betta fighting if they knew more about the practice. It's not as horrible as most people seem to think... not even close.
Fighters are treated like little kings, usually only fight once or twice their entire lives, and the best, most desired fighters go for body shots that don't cause much damage. Both fish are removed and treated for any injuries they received immediately after there is a clear victor, and the winner usually gets to live out the rest of his live fathering spawns of future champions. Every betta should be so lucky

Edit: I do, however, completely disapprove of betta fighting when it is not done in the traditional manner I mentioned above. Fighting pet store bettas is just wrong. They don't know how to fight and are likely to cause one-another serious injury or even death.

 

[Kiarra]

I have studied the matter extensively. The fighters are literally treated like kings before and after the fight when it's done properly...even the loser. These fish do not fight to the death at all. It is almost completely unheard of for these fighting Plakats to actually die from the wounds they receive during the fights. Traditional fighting entails that they be separated when there is a clear victor, such as the other male backing off or receiving more damage than the other male. At this point, they ARE separated and put in water treated with Indian Almond Leaves...even the loser. The winner goes on to breed, while the loser is either kept as a pet or released back into the wild to breed there.

These Bettas also aren't anything like our fancy long-tailed Bettas. Our Bettas don't know when to quit, and they are much more delicate than those. Fighting pet store Bettas would be a truly disgusting and abhorrent practice, and should never be done for any reason. They aren't built for it. Their fins are too long, and their scales aren't hard enough. Besides, those that would fight the fancy Bettas rarely bother to take care of their injuries afterwards, or separate them in time to prevent them from doing fatal damage to each other. So the Betta dies of infection.

That said...I don't agree with the practice. I think it is needlessly cruel, and part of me very much shies away from it. But I do not condemn those who fight the fish in the traditional method, with as much humanity as there can be. The people who do it in the traditional method love their fish, and treat them much better than most any of us could imagine.

I invite anyone who condemns this practice to do their research to gain understanding. It's not fair to condemn something until you know the whole story.

 

[BettaMomma]

These fish are treated like kings, that's true - i've read several things on this whole practice, too.
Mine are treated like kings and queens too, though. heh heh

I just can't understand having the desire to watch animals fight. I understand how, why, when, where, etc. it's all done - but I just can't imagine standing there - watching animals fight. Even if they are in the best of conditions and are removed when the winner is determined - I still can't understand it.

But I'm a psychotic freak about animals, and will purposely walk on the grass to avoid stepping on an ant, too.

 

[maxpayne_lhp]

Sadly, betta fighting was some sorta "tradition" in Asia...