I tend to stay out of them too for the most part. Sometimes I try to diffuse building tension with a joke or something, but I suck at humor, so... yeah. The only reason I view most flamewars is out of morbid trainwreck curiosity and to make sure nobody is doxing or crap like that.
I think I once ended a flamewar on zoophobia by doge spamming.
Not every debate or disagreement is a flamewar. If you're talking about the zoophilia thing, that debate was far too civil to qualify as a flamewar -- and I say that as the person who was taking the unpopular position at the time.