Melbourne Cup..

Perhaps its due to the fact that horses are needlessly dying for human entertainment (vs. consumption)?

 

Maybe.... but the outcome is the same isn't it? Animals being slaughtered? Lots of animals are needlessly dying when we could all eat vegetables (I'm not a vegetarian).

As I said, I'm not strictly pro-racing or against racing. I just feel like the moral issues surround racing are a lot murkier than "nup to the cuppers" make it out to be.

 

Well, my stance is quite simple in that I think animal racing and factory farming should be banned.

 

yes
Yet we still have zoos...? With the guise we are helping endangered species

 

I very much see zoos as a necessary evil.
Do animals there suffer? Absolutely! But overall, I still think that animalia is better off for their existence, even if the captive individuals aren't.

But since you've gone done this rabbit warren, I think that there is a lot of systemic animal abuse all around us. Just look at the animals we profess to love most: Dogs
We intentionally breed them with genetical defects, so that their craniums are too small for their skulls and they are in constant agony, so that they can barely breathe, so that their eye balls protrude so far out of the sockets that they're almost guaranteed to injure them, so that a majority of animals in some breeds have spine and hip problems.
When you look at it like that, it's disgusting and indefensible.
And sticking with dogs, there is also the issue of causing a lot of mental anguish to them by leaving them home alone. Every dog that's left home alone suffers. If you have a dog, you should ensure that it's virtually never alone, whether this means it has a human, another dog or even a cat around it most of the time.

That's my rant.

 

... and yet they do help endangered species by breeding programs and returning to the wild