Why Do Animals Still Entertain Us?

Every society has its blind spots, let me show you one:

We are often very good at recognising cruelty when it is committed by others. We watch footage of a bullfight and recoil. We see the bull exhausted, confused and ultimately killed in front of a cheering crowd, and many of us, especially here in UK ,conclude that such a spectacle belongs to another age. We tell ourselves that we have evolved beyond such barbarism. Must be something to do with the southern europeans….

Yet many of those same people will spend a Saturday afternoon cheering racehorses around a track, placing bets, celebrating victories and mourning defeats as though the horses themselves had chosen to participate. All dressed in high hats and long dresses; Looking umbeliveably smart and sophisticated.

To me, both activities are built upon the same idea: Animals exist for our entertainment.

The details may differ. The costumes may differ. The level of suffering may differ. The public perception certainly differs. But the underlying principle remains remarkably similar and in both cases, animals are removed from the lives they would naturally lead and transformed into performers in a spectacle designed for human enjoyment. Their value is measured not by who they are, but by what they can provide us.

We have already recognised this principle elsewhere. We no longer accept bears dancing for crowds. We no longer tolerate lions jumping through hoops in travelling circuses. Increasingly, we understand that wild animals do not exist to amuse us. We have begun to appreciate that their interests matter independently of our desire to be entertained. And yet horses continue to race on sunny English afternoons…..

What I find most striking is that many of the people who support horse racing would describe themselves as compassionate. They care about animal welfare. They donate to charities. They oppose unnecessary suffering. They are often thoughtful, educated and kind people. Yet somehow the excitement of the race obscures the reality that the entire industry exists because human beings enjoy watching animals compete under conditions they never chose for themselves.

The defence is usually tradition. It always is. Bullfighting has tradition. Circuses had tradition. Greyhound racing has tradition. But tradition is simply the continuation of a practice through time. It just tells us how long something has existed and It tells us nothing about whether it is right!

The uncomfortable truth is that we now know far too much about animal consciousness to continue pretending that these questions do not matter. We know that animals experience fear, stress, anticipation and suffering. We know that they form relationships. We know that they have preferences and desires. We know that they are not objects placed on Earth for our use; and I can assure you that , give the choice, they would rather be somewhere else. That’s easy to grasp.

Most importantly, we no longer need them. We do not need animals for transport. We do not need them for labour. We do not need them for entertainment. Human civilisation is perfectly capable of flourishing without asking animals to perform for our pleasure.

That is why I believe the future will look very differently at horse racing, just as it increasingly looks differently at bullfighting and circuses. Future generations may struggle to understand why otherwise compassionate people found excitement in spectacles built upon the exploitation of sentient beings.

In 2026, It is time to let animals simply be animals:

Out of the arena.

Out of the circus.

Out of the racetrack.