[Stonan]

I live in Vancouver, BC. Our local talk/news radio had a rep. from WSPA on for about an hour discussing this.

I can understand how these type of things get started (this is my best guess, Google only brought me to protest pages) get the population to grow massive pigs to increase the food supply under the guise of a contest.

Problem is that the food isn't needed anymore but because it's 'tradition', it continues. I bet most of the people involved don't know why the contest exists, only that tradition dictates it continue.

Somewhere in North America there is another 'tradition' involving hurting animals. It's called a suicide run involving men riding horses along a course at full speed and ending with a run down a severely steep sandy slope straight into a river. Men & horses being injured is standard, being killed is a definate possiblity. According to participants this is part of First Nation peoples heritage. I find this very hard to believe because (from what I've read) Indian braves treated their horses like family. The were an integral part of a warrior's 'make-up'. I don't think they'd risk injuring/killing their mounts just to prove their bravery. I believe they had trials that only involved the warrior, most of the time unarmed.