Bullfighting: Tourists Should Step Out of the Ring

The red cape flashes toward the sky as the matador points a long sword at his opponent.  The bull, breathing heavily, frothing with sweat and weakened with barbs, charges again. The matador is caught by the horns and goes flying into the dirt but not before plunging the sword deep into the animal’s neck.  The bull stands stricken and bleeding as several other matadors gather around him teasing him with their capes. In severe pain and shock, he does not move. It is several agonizing minutes before the matador retrieves his sword from the bull and stabs him again in the back of the neck. On the second strike, the bull dies.

Bullfighting is often at the center of contentious arguments as to what is considered culturally acceptable versus abjectly cruel. The industry, long hailed as Spain’s most ancient sport, is responsible for the deaths and maiming of thousands of bulls and hundreds of horses each year. But the fact is bullfighting is mainly sustained by the tourists that pay to see the fights and by subsidies provided by governments.

Unfortunately, colleges and high schools in the United States still put bullfights on the top of their itineraries during student trips to Spain and Latin America. Recently a colleague’s friend traveled with her high school class to Spain. She refused to attend a bullfight during the trip but sadly was the only one to do so. These events provide little in educational value, and student attendance only promotes the myth that bullfighting is a culturally relevant practice. Just Googling “bullfighting origins” illustrates how unclear the actual history of the sport is.        

What is more, today’s bullfighting rings are nearly empty of Spanish spectators. The last Gallup poll of Spanish opinions on bullfighting has shown that 72 percent of Spaniards are not interested at all in bullfighting. The rejection of Spaniards for this long-standing practice is foremost a progression toward better treatment of animals, but also a general annoyance at the way taxpayers’ money is used to support the bullfighting industry, particularly given the current financial climate.

In the end it is tourist demand that is keeping bulls at the center of the ring, but compassionate travelers can be powerful agents of change. Tourists traveling to Spain or Latin America should boycott festivals and activities where bulls are taunted and killed for the sake of entertainment. By refusing to pay for a ticket, you are voting to end the cruel practice.  

The citizens of Catalonia, a region of Spain surrounding Barcelona, are calling for change in the region’s animal protection law, which currently offers no safeguards for bulls and horses used for bullfights. Public outcry has forced Catalonia Parliament to schedule a vote on removing the exemption. A 'yes' vote in this key region would be a groundbreaking step toward ending bullfighting in Spain.  You can show the Catalonia Parliament that their citizens’ campaign to end bullfighting has worldwide support by adding your name to our petition today.

Comments

[Jan Pike]

I am at a time of life where I can travel anywhere in the World. I will not just boycott bullfighting, I decided long ago to not even travel to Spain as long as they continue to have bullfighting.
How about schools not even offering students the option of attending a bullfight. Surely there are trips to Spain that do not include attending a bullfight?

[Angelina]

DONE!
Congratulations for your actions :-)
For this matter I follow also the work of this society in France : http://www.allianceanticorrida.fr/ , they do a great job too.

Kind regards,

Angelina

[Maria]

I'm so glad there's people like you guys out there. Not only am I against bullfighting, but all the others as well, ex: dogfights, cockfights, etc. They should all pay for their cruelty, it's sooo inhumane!!!.

Thank you so much for your dedication,

Maria

[Mary Anne]

Thank you for taking a stand for animals
who cannot. No conscientious being could
condone such cruelty. If only animals
could speak they would have some words for
such actions.

Mary Anne

[linda kay stevens]

I remember being taken to a bullfight as a child and my little sister who was 5 at the time stood up and boo'd whenever the bull was attacked...
even as children we knew it was wrong to watch a creature suffer for entertainment.
Thank you for doing this work.
Linda Kay Stevens

[Sharon Fenderson]

This is archaic and aberrant behavior. Not only is it dangerous, but it is archaic as the Romans and Christians going up against the Lions in the coliseum!!! Situations that create havoc and violence is twisted. Man and animal should coexist in harmony instead of against eachother.

[Gail Farrow]

While in Mexico many years ago, it was suggested I attend a bullfight. I would not do it then, nor would I ever attend. I applaud all those who oppose this barbaric form of entertainment.
My best wishes in your endeavour.

Gail Farrow

[Laurie]

How sick and twisted are people that they can take pleasure in an innocent animal being tortured and abused. No one with a soul could ever condone this.

[Saskia Oskam]

Good article Meryl! I am glad that we are working together to end bullfighting worldwide. I was shocked to read that many schools in the USA still organize trips to bullfights, I did not know that. I hope local organizations can take action to convince these schools to exclude bullfighting from their programmes. We have done the same with travel organizations in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Thanks!

Yours sincerely,

Saskia Oskam
PR Officer CAS International
www.cas-international.org

[Patricia]

It would be such a victory for this to come to an end as soon as possible! I don't understand how people can be so cruel and indifferent to any animal's suffering.

[Gisela Curtis]

WSPA thank you for not giving up the fight to stop this horrible torture for entertainment. I have been a member for a long time and congratulate you for continuing the struggle to stop bullfighting. Hopefully we will see the day when this cruel spectacle ends. All of us who are against bullfighting must speak up and not give up on the fight to stop it. Many people who go to bullfights are not aware how the horses are injured and suffer not to mention the bulls.

[Nancy Williams]

Wouldn't it help to put this bullfighting message before the head of the association of Spanish teachers? One would hope that the vast majority of American teachers would stand up for eliminating attendance at bullfighting spectacles. It's hard to believe that students are still expected to witness bullfights in the interest of enriching their knowledge of Spanish language and culture.

[Pamylle Greinke]

Some traditions are best left behind as humans become wiser & kinder.

[spaintraveldeals]

Spain is probably my favorite place to travel to. Exotic, adventurous, fun and full of flavor! Thanks for the nice writeup!

[Aida Pour Kian]

It is distgusting to me that humans make money off of helpless animals for entertainment doing un-natural acts. HOW SICK AND TWISTED this world is. The circus - rodeos...and bloodless(?) bull fighting - how distgusting. Please do not support these businesses.

[Anuradha Singh]

Please stop this barbaric,bizarre cruelty to Bulls.I request the tourists and people of Spain not to support this sport.

[Michel Michaeljohn]

Bullfighting: It's not ART; it's not CULTURE; it's TORTURE (ask the MAJORITY of the people in the bullfighting countries of Spain; Portugal; France; Mexico; Colombia; Ecuador; Guatemala; Peru and Venezuela that are working on, and passing BANS and ABOLITION of bullfights).

Bullfighting: The most indefensible type of animal abuse.

Bullfighting is not a fight at all, but a systematic torture-killing that pits a gang of armed thugs wielding razor-sharp barbed spikes, spears, swords and daggers (these weapons are designed to inflict intense pain and cause massive blood loss to weaken the animal) against a lone, terrified; confused; fatally disabled and wounded animal.

It’s a sickening economic industry based on HORRIFYING victimization; sadistic abuse; extreme cruelty and mutilation and torture of bulls (and horses) during the cruel exhibitions of bullfights (which are barbaric "blood" fiestas): Close-up Horror of Bullfighting (Graphic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvwQ4Dmlur8

Handlers weaken and cripple the bull for days before the bullfight. They starve him; give him laxatives and deny him water, or they put massive doses of sulphates (epsom salts) in his water to induce severe diarrhea, intestinal pain and subsequent lack of coordination in the ring. He is beaten with heavy sandbags on his back and kidneys. The bull is wedged into a tiny corral and drugged to make it docile. Up to four inches of horn is hacked off with a saw down to the tender quick to interfere with his ability to navigate; the mutilated stump rounded off with a rasp and smeared with black grease.

They blind and drug him; they stuff his ears so that he cannot hear; they stuff his nostrils so that he cannot breath. Before he enters the ring thick needles have been pushed into the bull's testicles and he is harpooned/stabbed in the back with a steel "breeder's mark." In the ring, they drive razor-sharp lances and harpoons into his back and neck muscles so he can’t lift his head. By the time the matador appears, the bull is weak from blood loss and dizzy from being chased in circles.

The horses used in bullfights are old and drugged. Wet newspaper is stuffed in their ears so that they will not hear the approaching bull and run away; their vocal cords are cut so the audience will not hear their cries. They wear long blankets to hide their entrails, which spill out when they are gored and disemboweled by the tortured; agonizing bull (who has been deceived into thinking that the horse is causing his pain, instead of the "wicked human" riding the horse).

It’s no fun to see an innocent, crazed animal tortured before a screaming crowd of people, who should be hanging their heads in shame. Even if you leave after 15 to 20 minutes, the damage has been done – your money has gone to support this hellish, satanic business, which "decent people" are working to "end."

The continuation of bullfighting depends on government subsidies and to an even GREATER EXTENT, the IGNORANT "TOURIST" industry.
Don’t be an accomplice to this savagery by supporting it with your "tourist dollars."

Please help these "suffering" animals – STAY AWAY FROM BULLFIGHTS; speak out against them and DEMAND that they be ABOLISHED.

Michel Michaeljohn (of Spanish-descent); California; United States.