Barcelona considers bullfighting ban
12December 17, 2009 by Aleksandra Łuczak
The corrida, or bullfight, has long been a part of Spanish life. But tomorrow in the morning the Catalan parliament in Barcelona will consider a proposal to ban it, becoming the first region in of Spain to do so.
Campaigners collected 180,000 signatures of support for their proposal to parliament. It asks deputies to include the bull in existing animal protection legislation.
It also recommends compensation for those currently working in the industry, including breeders of the bulls. They are cautiously optimistic that a majority of members of parliament will support them.
“Bullfighting is about animal rights, it’s about cruelty and about a bloody entertainment,” says Eric Gallego, from the group known as Prou (in English: Enough).
“We think that we must stop this cruelty because we don’t want to be a barbaric society inside Europe.”
You can read the whole BBC article here or in Polish in the Gazeta Wyborcza.
How do you see bullfighting: as a manifestation of cruelty towards animals or a glamorous spectacle of matadors’ bravery?
Have your say!
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In my opinion the corrida is a cruel and vident entertainment. Not only do these animals suffer but also the people who take part in this “sport’ are often injured or even die.
Why do we have such an attitude toward this tradition?
For us, in Poland, treating animals in this way is shocking and for most of us unacceptable, but in Spain bullfighting is essential to their tradition. When it comes to the spanish we should understand that the corrida is something more than cruelty towards animals.
The older generations are used to this tradition and they find this ban outrogeous. They feel that somebody is questioning their customs. Besides, it is also the industry which gives them profits.
The proposal to ban bullfighting is a result of the regulations imposed by the UE. The UE can’t force the spanish to change their tradition but it has a huge influence on public opinion in Spain.
Personally I think that the corrida is something that should be banned but only if the majority of the spanish agree that it is the best solution Which is not imposed on them by anyone.
Latest news from BBC:
Catalonia’s regional parliament has voted in favour of debating a ban on bullfighting in the Spanish region.
A motion to debate a petition calling for a change in animal protection laws was passed by 67 votes to 59.
Campaigners had collected 180,000 signatures supporting their proposal to ban bullfighting.
It asked Catalan lawmakers in Barcelona to include the bull in existing animal protection legislation, which will be debated and voted on next year.
Only one functioning bull ring remains in the regional capital, Barcelona.
If Catalonia votes to ban bullfighting, it will be the first Spanish region – except for the Canary Islands – to do so.
Friday’s vote was applauded by animal rights groups.
“By voting in this way, MPs have acknowledged and respected the views of over 180,000 Catalonian citizens who have expressed their wish for bullfights to be banned,” said Alyx Dow, of the World Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (WSPA).
On the one hand, it is cruelty to animals because they are encouraged to fight with the bullfighter. On the other hand it is a demonstration of courage but also of human stupidity. In my opinion, that should be banned because we live in XXI century, and such entertainment should not exist. I think that bullfight can increase aggression in humans. Despite the long tradition of Spain it should end as soon as it possible. There are other more humane forms of entertainment than bullfights.
I will cite Sir Álvaro Uribe Vélez who wrote a petition to ban bullfighting :
”These animals are often kept in total darkness for days and have petroleum jelly rubbed into their eyes to blur their vision.”
Bull is frightened and exhausted. It is tortured by matador and weakened from the blood loss, at the end ”his ears are cut off as a trophy. The pain that the poor beasts go through is unimaginable to me.”
I can’t imagine that this can be a great fun and pleasure for anyone. It’s very cruel. This barbaric “sport” should have ended a long time ago. I don’t see that as a sport or art, but as a murder. During each fight, there are many people who help matador. The bull is always on its own. It does not have any chance to survive.
I understand that we kill animals for food, but the point is, we do have to eat meat and we have to kill animals for it. But that’s different to killing animals for fun and entertainment. It desensitises people to killing. Bullfighting should go the same way as the Spanish inquisition.
Perhaps we should ask the bull…
I can understand the Spanish people… bull fighting are their tradition… but we leave in XXI century and some traditions supposed to be band just like bull fighting.
I hate bull fighting because it’s just physical and mental cruelty over the bulls.
Do you know that some years ago, owner of the bulls pour the lemon juice to the bulls’ eyes just to drive them crazy…
The bull fighting is a cruel torture of the bulls and excellent way to see human stupidity…
I think that I can understand this people, their tradition and customs.
But we live in his time not in the past.
In my opinion bullfighting is a cruelty.
I understand that man years ao people killed
animals for food but in this tme when everything
is in shops and we have a lot of,it’s a cuelty and strange kind of entertainment.
I tink, there are some beter entertainments without agressions and cruelty than bullfights.
I think that bullfighting is one of the most cruelty entertainment in the world. Killing innocent animals is a violence that should never happens. Implementation the new law in Catalonia should be done as fast as possible to stop murdering bulls. Animals sholudn’t be treat like an objects without any feelings.
FREEDOM FOR BULLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Corrida is inseparable part of Spanish coulture and history for almost 900 years. It is a beautiful fight of warriors where bull isn’t just a slaughtery cattle, despite of men superiority in numbers. This shows how weak we are in comparison with this mighty animal. It’s some kind of art that is why thousands of people in Spain gather every weekend at “plaza te toros” to watch the bloody spectacl. Bulls often wounds mathadors or even kill them but it’s a part of the game that would never stops in Spain.
Totally agree with MichlN and also think that Bullfighting is an integral part of Spanish culture. Spaniards have long been admired by matadors grappling with enraged bulls, fighting to the death. Of course not dispute the fact that the animals should be treated well before the fight. But I think that most of the spanish considers this event as a sign of their brand recognized around the world. And what would happen if we banned the killing of carp in order to be able to eat it on Christmas Eve?
The Catalonian Parliament made the right decision. But they should also ban the ’embolat’, a southern Catalonian tradition which involves attaching torches to a bull’s horns and releasing the animal who, terrified, moos desparately and runs along the streets, while incandescent liquid burns his eyes and snout. If they do not ban that as well, bullfighter supporters have a point if they interpret this ban as a nationalist, un-Spanish move rather than as an animal right’s initiative.
For us, people who knows The Corrida only from the TV it is obvious that it should be banned. It hurts bulls in a very bad way and kills them in a very brutal way. But for the people who lives in Barcelona, loves corrida it is unacceptable to ban it. It is their tradition and they don’t consider it as a bad thing. I understand them because every country has it’s traditions, no matter how brutal, weird or antyhing else they are. So I think that we should not interfere with this situation and let their government solve this how they want to.