Added: 11/03/2005 |
Anti bullfighting: people against bloody businessBullfighting is the most polemical tradition today. From the one hand it`s an art, from the other hand - a bloody sport and brutal entertainment. Spaniards believe in sacral destination of bullfighting and traditionally it is an integral part of any "fiesta" in Spain. But in the circle of bullfighting opposers bullfights are considered to be barbaric shows and relics of the Dark Age. The circumstance that the bulls must meet a violent death on the arena only for pleasure of the crowd makes their blood creep. Doing their best antagonists try to carry into effect anti bullfighting politics and stop this bloodbath forever. From their point of view these spectacles still exist due to the powerful lobbies that support them. These lobbies maintain this bloody business for profit, at the cost of animals` pain, torment and death. They have the support of national and local governments, and receive backing from financial enterprises keen to promote their brands as having a "cultural" flavour, and from the fashion media who like to display "chic" images. Those people who found the way of getting rich by means of bullfights` organization try to expand their dirty business to other countries. Charitable bullfights to raise money for starving children of third world countries and other attempts to popularize their "sport" are obvious.
Every week, all over Spain, many thousands of Spaniards flock to the nearest bullring, but not all Spaniards agree with the sport, or like it. Bullfighting as we know it today, started in the village squares, and became formalised, with the building of the bullring in Ronda in the late 18th century. Only in Andalucia there are about 70 bullrings. However tourists don`t know all the secret details concerning bullfights and take an interest in the bullfighting advertisments drawing them on to the bullring. But according some data bullfighting is going beyond the limits of permitted treatment with animals not only in Spain but also in other countries. It became a bloody business. For the last years a lot of anti bullfighting communities were organized the world over.
Bullfights you will find indeed throughout the country and besides the very well known spanish bullfights, Spain has something commonly called Popular Festivals (popular fiestas) which are in reality another way of torturing bulls. The most popular event perhaps being the "Running of Bulls". Here are some description of these actions: "El toro de la Vega" (the bull of Vega). This so called popular fiesta consists in chasing a bull with spears all over the village sticking them into his body until his death. Meanwhile, since the crowd think that the torture is not enough, they cut his testicles off while he is stil alive. "El Toro de Coria" (Coria`s bull). The bull walks and runs for hours in the streets while people throw darts at him. When he is too tired and weak from loss of blood to continue to escape, the villagers also cut his testicles while he is still alive. "Toros de Fuego" (Fire bulls). This particular savagery consists in putting a kind of ball of pitch on both the horns of the bulls and setting fire to the balls. The bulls are released on the streets. These balls burn for hours, burning the horns, body and eyes, causing terrible suffering.
Several times the bulls try to kill themselves against walls, due to the horrible pain. "Toro Enmaromado" (Bull with ropes). The bull is bound with ropes and dragged all over the village till he dies of exhaustion or by the cutting of his throat. These are only a few examples of the barbarities perpetrated in Spain against bulls.
Anti bullfighting organizations point out that each year, within Spain, 24,000 bulls are killed in front of an audience of 30 million people. In France only for the last decade 33.000 bulls were killed and only one bullfighter was injured and died. One famous French bullfighter Pakirry killed 2.757 bulls. Opinion polls show that the great majority of citizens all over the world are opposed to this brutality. Some facts about bullfighting are really terrible. Before the fight men beat the bull with sacks full of sand, they also tie his testicles up that causes him a violent pain and makes him being mad with rage. They saw away bull`s horns without any anaesthetisation that is also very painfully, anoint his eyes with vaseline after that the bull can`t take his bearings.
As a first step towards a new campaign for the abolition of bullfighting in Spain and other countries, many anti bullfighting organizations offer to propagate these horrible facts about the atrocities held in bullrings. They try to prove that all animals are sentient beings that experience joy, happiness, fear and pain, in the same way that human beings do. We can have no right whatsoever to make them suffer for our "enjoyment". In whatever light we view, this ancient tradition have the same quantity of fans and opposers like for example fights without rules or some other extreme kinds of sport. Although bullfighting seems to be survival of the past. In any case, we came to the conclusion that all is well in its time and place.
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