Tournament of blood: The sheer horror of horse-fighting

The crowd roars its approval as the chestnut stallion sinks his teeth into the throat of his opponent.

The terrified victim rears up on his hind legs and veers away in a desperate bid to escape, but it is no use.

Blood is pouring into his eyes and he can no longer see. His right ear is torn and bloody.

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Fight club: Goaded into a frenzy by a mare who is 'in season' and chained nearby for up to six hours, stallions battle for 'sport' in the Philippines

The bigger horse moves in for the coup de grace, repeatedly kicking the weaker animal in the head with his front hooves.

His opponent soon collapses and lies panting on the ground, an all too typical end to one of the most horrific spectator 'sports' ever devised - horse-fighting tournaments.

But that hasn't stopped them becoming hugely popular in the Philippines, where these appalling pictures were taken.

The images are deeply disturbing, but the Mail believes they must be seen.

"These tournaments are truly barbaric," says Andrew Plumbly of the welfare group Network for Animals, which has been campaigning to bring an end to the savage contests.

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These scenes in the town of Don Carlos involved 54 horses, many of which had gruesome injuries

"Our vets have seen horses being kicked in the head so hard that their eyes have popped out of their sockets. Other horses have had their ears ripped off. It's straight out of the Middle Ages."

Horse-fighting occurs almost exclusively in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, and in parts of China.

The horrific tournament captured in our photographs happened in the town of Don Carlos and involved 54 horses, many of which had gruesome injuries.

Thousands of people turned out to watch the bloodbath, including hundreds of children. Many of the adults were drunk and spent their time gambling and jeering at the battling animals.

Though horses do not normally fight one another, these stallions had been whipped into a fighting frenzy by the presence of a young mare who was "in season" and had been staked to the ground in the middle of the muddy arena.

Overwhelmed by desire, the stallions attacked each other in a bid to defeat their sexual rivals.

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Wounded horses are often killed for their meat and the choicest cuts barbecued and sold to the crowd

Many were soon covered in gashes and bites. Others limped around the arena with a glazed look in their eyes as they pathetically tried to escape.

The tournament was equally traumatic for the mare used as "bait" for the stallions.

Not only was she repeatedly hit by stray blows from the duelling horses, but the poor creature was also obliged to mate with the victorious stallions from each "bout", meaning that she was mounted as many as 30 times during one tournament which can last up to six hours.

"Horses often die in the ring from exhaustion or their injuries," says Mr Plumbly, who has witnessed one such tournament.

Veterinary care is too expensive for most owners to bother with, so wounded horses are often killed for their meat and the choicest cuts barbecued and sold to the crowd.

A similar fate awaits those horses deemed too old or too weak to fight. These are "sacrificed" by pitting them against much stronger stallions.

Some break their legs as they desperately try to escape. But the bloodier the injuries, the louder the crowd cheers.

Although horse-fighting is illegal in the Philippines, corruption and lack of enforcement ensure that the tournaments continue - and with apparent official sanction.

Matches are featured on TV, and local businesses sponsor horses and tournaments. Local authorities offer prize money.

The tournaments are promoted as a "cultural tradition", but in fact they are largely organised and controlled by crime syndicates, who rake in huge profits from gambling.

Thousands of pounds are bet on each fight - a small fortune in a desperately poor country such as the Philippines.

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The tournaments are promoted as a 'cultural tradition', but in fact they are largely organised and controlled by crime syndicates

Network for Animals wants to build clinics to treat injured horses and to educate local people about caring for animals. It is also encouraging tourists to avoid the southern Philippines.

"If people want to help stop these tournaments they should write to the embassy in London and tell them that they will not visit these islands," says Mr Plumbly.

"The threat of a loss of tourism money will help bring this despicable blood sport to an end."

• For more information on NFA campaigns and how you can help, visit www.networkforanimals.org.

Original here

Frog from hell' that ate baby dinosaurs

A squat beachball sized toad dubbed 'the frog from Hell' has been found in Madagascar, where it it once may have snacked on baby dinosaurs and other small animals.

Self destructing palm tree found in Madagascar Weirdest and most endangered creatures Monster toad found in Australia The 70 million year-old fossil frog is likened by researchers to a "slightly squashed beach-ball" and has been nicknamed Beelzebufo. An artist's impression of what the frog might have looked like The discovery of the creature, of a kind once thought unique to South America, lends weight to a new theory that Madagascar, India and South America were once linked together into a supercontinent until late in the Age of Dinosaurs, around 65 million years ago. The new frog esembles living Horned frogs (ceratophryines or 'pac-man frogs') in having a squat body, huge head and wide mouth, containing dozens of little teeth. With a body length (not counting the legs) of up to 16 inches - longer than a rugby ball - and a weight of around four kilos (10 pounds), it is more than twice the size of its largest living relatives. The fossil has been identified by scientists from University College London and Stony Brook University, New York. Their research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests it lived alongside meat-eating dinosaurs, plant-eating crocodiles and giant snakes, which are all very different from the present day animals of Madagascar. Prof Susan Evans, who studied Beezebufo with Dr Marc Jones at UCL says: "This frog, a relative of today's Horned frogs, would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach-ball, with short legs and a big mouth. If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of living Horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely haveconsisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling orjuvenile dinosaurs." The history of Madagascar's unusual frogs has generated intense debate, fuelled by the near absence of a fossil record. "Our discovery of a frog strikingly different from today's Madagascan frogs, and akin to the Horned frogs previously considered endemic to South America, lends weight to the controversial idea that Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent and South America were linked well into the Late Cretaceous. "It also suggests that the initial spread of such beasts began earlier than that proposed by recent estimates," says Prof Evans. Earlier work has found similarities between the dinosaurs of these three regions, along with mammals, birds and crocodiles. Original here