Yeah that horse thing is a bit sick....
But let me play devil's advocate on the badger thing... don't get me wrong, i was a member of the LACS (league against cruel sports) until hunting with hounds became illegal - i then felt my work was done.
But the badger "ripped apart" story, well as i get older, i start to wonder what i think about this. Firstly the article uses massively emotive phrases... "laughed as the dogs ripped", "thugs", "tug-of-war with", "pregnant badger torn to pieces and bled to death"... etc etc
They were actually charged with "wilfully killing a badger, digging for badgers and interfering with a badger sett" doesn't sound quite so bad put like that ?
Just to contextualise my thoughts on this...two things... firstly, a million times a day (or much more) i imagine a creature feels teeth sinking into it's flesh, or a knife, or a car bumper, or a net dragging it to its death, or a spray of insecticide etc etc
But focusing on, say a lion.... we have all sat there on a Sunday night and watched a wilderbeast dieing in absolute agony as a number of huge lions start eating from it's rear end... and then killer whales that play with the seals they catch... the seals actually die amid the amazing footage...
Mother nature has decided that animals typically will use teeth and claws and rip each other apart. Two lions fighting over a wilderbeast will look like they're playing "tug-of-war", and the animal will "bleed to death", and it could quite easily be a "pregnant animal" being eaten !!
And secondly, it's quite common for people to love watching two humans face each other in combat - boxing, UFC etc ...
So i'm struggling with the significance of the animal killed... the method, which by Mother Nature's standards is fine, and then the "thugs" actually enjoying it....? you know, at least they're not raping kids or battering old ladies?!!!
For me the jury is out... and i look forward to any sensible response...