If you go to Amazon.com and type “animal fighting” in the search box, you will see results such as How To Select, Breed, Train And Manage Fighting Dogs and The Game Cock - Being a Practical Treatise on Breeding, Rearing, Training, Feeding, Trimming, Mains, Heeling, Spurs, etc. Some of these books were originally published in the 18th and 19th centuries but have been repackaged and are for sale as rare historical texts.

It would be comforting to think that this type of animal cruelty was a thing of the past in our country, but there are several items for sale on Amazon.com that promote contemporary - and illegal - animal fighting.

The Humane Society of the United States has a lawsuit and a letter-writing campaign against Amazon.com for its willingness to sell materials that promote illegal animal fighting activities. The HSUS lawsuit against Amazon.com, The Feathered Warrior and The Gamecock magazines, filed in February, asserts that mailing materials that promote animal fighting, including ads for the sale of fighting animals and fighting paraphernalia, is illegal under the federal Animal Welfare Act. Amazon.com is defending itself based on freedom of speech.

On the HSUS website, the organization refutes this tactic: “Amazon's animal fighting materials are far more than an exchange of ideas; they are active solicitations for violent criminal activity, with the express purpose of promoting and furthering illegal animal fighting.” Amazon.com’s position is further weakened by the fact that the company has removed dog-fighting videos from its website in the past, according to the HSUS.

Of all the free speech issues it could choose to take a stand for, why is Amazon.com clinging to illegal animal cruelty? I wonder if Amazon.com CEO Jeffrey Bezos can hear all those customers - and the profits they represent - walking away in disgust?