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© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.A farewell to bullfights in northeastern Spain
BARCELONA, Spain©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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MistWizard
I just love the outcry over a few bulls from people who no doubt eat factory farmed beef several times a week. Hypocrisy at its finest.
ulysses
Bullfighting is a cruel practice not fit to be called a sport, which has no place in a modern society. The excuse of it being "part of tradition" is pathetic.
MistWizard: The bull dies slowly and painfully, it is weakened by a stab nears its neck making it lose blood and then sharp sticks are driven into its spine. There is no comparison to a killing a cow in a controlled environment.
TSRnow
I have seen a couple of bull fights including the ones in San Fermin, but the passion of the spectators and the seriousness of the fight makes me forget the idea that it could be (or probably is) cruel to these animals.
I don't think the ban will spread all over spain, but it's a huge step forward.
Some of the matadors are pretty good looking btw.
cleo
If they really want to fight, the pretty matador-boys should step into the ring with the bull one-on-one, each armed with the weapons God gave them. For the bull, horns and sheer weight. For the pretty boy, a suit of lights and a pair of fast legs.
Bullfighting is a vicious, mindless, barbaric tradition and like all such traditions should be stopped.
kokorocloud
“On such a decisive issue I think the safer response is not to ban anything. We should show respect for the tradition. It’s part of our culture,”
WOW, that sounds familiar.
smithinjapan
It's tradition, and in that respect it's sad to see it go, but it is barbaric and outdated. Good on northeastern Spain, and while I doubt other parts will follow suit (too quickly), I hope it eventually spreads and the sport either days save but for in the aformentioned artwork depicting it, or they find another way that doesn't put the animal through extremely pain before it's killed (they don't kill it at all for that matter). Maybe the Matador can use tranquilizers or something :)
regev
Precisely.
Wakarimasen
Not "northeastern spain" but Catalunya. Soon EVERYTHING will be banned on the basis that it "has no place in amodern society". We will be like anaethatised, nannied drones - no excitement, no danger, No traditions, no causing anyone the slightest offence, every minority being protected. Sad really.
MistWizard
I am sure you would know. No doubt you grew up in a controlled environment. Have you ever visited a factory farm? I think there is a chance the bull might have lived a happier life and would not trade his horrible end for the life of a beef cow.
morriconelover
@wakarimasen. Times are changing. It was on request from 180.000 signatures gathered that the legislature was proposed for changing the law. Without change in societies, we would still have slaves and homosexuals would be forbidden. Talking about tradition, then tradition is something that changes all the time. So i find it amusing when people talk about tradition. For example looking at sakura (cherry blossoms) was centuries ago just a thing that the ruling class in Japan did. It was never something that commoners would spend their time doing. Now everyone is amazed by how Japanese watching Sakura is. The same with many western traditions. What people did 500 or 100 years ago as compared to today is often two different worlds. The majority of young people in Spain obviously believes that bullfighting is outdated and they may be more concerned about the wellbeing of the animal than to consider bullfighting a tradition that deserves to be treasured. Wake up and smell the change. Also you dont see samurais in the street in Japan practising their swords on burakumin people anymore.
jruaustralia
RIP to bullfighting
Agree--soon Asian cockfightings will be prohibited because of groups like Peta :(
ulysses
Hemingway was fascinated by death and his perception of manliness. He tried out bull-fighting once , which he has written about in "Death in the afternoon".A better account of this medieval ritual is in "Or I'll dress you in mourning". But Paul Theroux puts it best"In the bullfight the bull always loses"
Mistwizard: I grew up among normal human beings, where torturing and maiming animals was considered wrong. You are incoherent in the second part of your post, care to clarify.
wakarimasen: you want danger, jump off a cliff, no need to kill an animal for that.
ulysses
Yup, the joy of watching cocks tear each other apart with blades tied to their claws is only matched by the sweet taste of bile in my mouth.
presto345
I totally agree with Cleo. Torturing an animal as a national sport and perpetuating the practice on the pretense that it is tradition indicates how uncivilized large groups of people in countries that call themselves civilized have 'survived'. All the fanfare surrounding bullfighting does not make it a sport. It is a vicious and shameful display of cruelty against animals.
Jkanda
What is the pleasure people get by watching animals hurt each other? Is it sadism? Not just bull fights and cock fights but even caging animals in zoos and aqauariums should be done away with.
nath
Bullfight is an idiotic game... And those who like it, are 100% idiots, too...
morriconelover
Probably the same pleasure people in ancient Rome got from watching gladiator games. Only difference is that some gladiators volunteered for their career.
Tiresias
Eating people used to be part of some regions'culture too. Claiming that something is part of culture is too easily used as an excuse not to think about the implications of whatever that piece of culture is. Culture is not always a good thing. Well done, Catalunya.
Zenny11
Glad to see bull-fights end.
Next I hope we see an end to Rodeo, this is a very cruel sports as they animals ONLY buck because someone squeezes their privates with a rope till it hurts.
Watch the Videos once the clown unties the knot of the string the animal calms down and is docile.
cptmendoza
It’s reassuring to see that nobody is holding the whole of the Spanish people responsible for bull fighting. Very few Spanish people want anything to do with this so-called tradition. Yes there is a vocal minority and there is an even smaller group that actually are aficionados who will go every chance they get. They are the throwbacks that exist in all countries and not people that should be taken seriously. Sadly in Spain they tend to come from the old power block and in some cases do still have some power. Privilege is not entirely dead in Spain and some names do still wow the simple minded.
For anybody to talk about tradition or culture in respect to bull fighting they need to be total idiots. Tradition and culture are both organics and should change with time. Civilisation should be trying to move towards an empathy with the world we live in, not holding on to our ignorance. Just because our ancestors were ignorant doesn’t mean we need to continue being so.I am not a Catalan and it is almost innate in me to reject almost anything that is Catalan, but this banning of bull butchering for public “entertainment” is a seed that I hope grows throughout the whole county and through France (yes there is a part that still has bull fighting) and Latin America too.
TheQuestion
Guess I'm going to have to go elsewhere to see the fights now, shame really. I have some far flung relatives in the area so I used to save on hotel fares, ah well, Madrid is a beautiful city and Las Ventas is a much better bullring anyway.
You ever work at a slaughterhouse? If the bolt gun doesn't work the process gets brutal as all hell.
Now there's an idea!
mikehuntez
The bulls get their fair share of goring in as well. What goes around comes around. I say let them at each other. I'd have no problem with the bullfighter getting a horn up the butt. I'd love to see the bull get a piece of the fighter once in a while. Payback is a bitch.
M51T
What do they do with the dead bull? Anyone know?
nandakandamanda
mikehuntz, by the time the matador comes out with his cape, the bull has been seriously crippled and exhausted by the horsemen. The bull has already lost a lot of blood and much of the viability of his front shoulders/haunches.
He may be able to gore if he is lucky, but it will be part of a last gasp effort. Not really fair...
cleo
Nowhere near their 'fair share'. How many dead matadors are dragged out of the ring at each event? How many bulls get to walk out of the ring?
GJDailleult
Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that statement is correct. A life grazing in the fields of Catalonia eating proper food and being bred to fight, easily beats wallowing in muck and feces and getting stuffed with corn until you can't walk. The end isn't much different either.
This ban is not the big news it is being made out to be though, there is only one bullring in Catalonia anyways. No coincidence that it comes only a couple of weeks after the World Cup. The Catalan nationalists are not happy with the new image of a happy, united Spain, especially with so many of the top players being Catalan, and are trying to undo that by stirring things up.
cptmendoza
How pointless trying to make comparisons between how a meat cow dies and how a “fighting” bull is killed. The killing of meat cows may not be that good, but at least it isn’t on TV as entertainment. It is the sickness of the cruel and pointless killing an animal for entertainment that is the issue.
And don’t get too clever about Catalonia only doing this as a means of acting against Madrid. That will have played a part yes, but that wasn’t what it was all about, besides some of you might be interested to know that Catalonia was not the first province to ban bull fighting, the Canneries were. And they are not nor even want to be a semiautonomous region.
GJDailleult
cptmendoza, I wasn't defending bullfighting or killing animals for entertainment. I was just pointing out that the statement of another poster that an animal raised for bullfighting has a better life than one raised for food is in fact true. Even if you include how the animals are killed.
Now if somebody wants to say that makes bullfighting opponents hypocrites, that is another question. But the basic point is true, even if many people are unaware of it.
ulysses
Killing a bull for the sake of entertainment is not comparable to killing it at a slaughterhouse. The sport itself is brutal, in addition to the matador, you have banderillas riding on terrified horses.The horses do have protection, but I'm sure nobody explains that to them.
The only reason a bull is killed slowly is for the sake of entertainment.Sword thrusts to it neck, making it half bleed to death, then sharp sticks stuck in its spine. An then the guy in fancy tights comes in and shows his bravado by making the weakened bull charge at its cape.
Whether its a bullfight,a dog-fight or a cock-fight, they are cruel,barbaric and people who support them missed out somewhere in the process of evolution.
TheQuestion: I haven't worked at a slaughterhouse and don't intend to. If you think that is cruel become a vegetarian.
TheQuestion
I'm just lending my experience to the discussion. My comment was in response to the post stating that meat cattle die an easier death, often that isn't the case especially if it's a new guy who just makes a mess, then it comes down to wooden cudgels and knives. I don't recommend that job, needed a new set of clothes every week.
Bullfighting bulls are bred and trained to fight in the ring, that is their sole purpose and by cattle standards it's a pretty glorious life when compared to other livestock. The end is a fight for survival when a torero pits himself against the enraged beast.
cleo
How can it be a 'fight for survival' when death is virtually guaranteed for the bull?
Do you really mean 'often' or 'sometimes'? I'm pretty sure there are strict rules about what happens in a slaughterhouse, and if 'a mess' happened too often I'm sure there would be repercussions for that particular abattoir. Maybe you worked in one that needed to be closed down.
Not that I'm defending what takes place even in a well-regulated abattoir. Veggies rule.
ulysses
My point is that this would be an aberration and not a practice. It cannot be generalized to prove that a meat cow dies a worse death.
In a bullfight, the bull will always lose and almost certainly die.And it will die painfully each and every time.
TheQuestion
The bull doesn't know that.
Often. As in 4 to 5 times out of 10 the animal was either fully conscious or only partially stunned and because of the bolt gun's setup another shot would take forever to reload.
Regulation was way more lax than people think and it was even worse when I was working in the 90's. Hooray FDA oversight, jokers.
I agree with you, it probably should have. However the city of Detroit has better things to do with its time than investigate poor business practice...like launder money and throw parties at strip clubs.
You've never worked in a meat facility and have no idea of the frequency with which the federally mandated method fail, here's a hint, a whole heck of a lot.
So do livestock animals. And actually there are several arenas in Portugal and France that practice non-lethal bull fights using Velcro tip spears on Velcro pads taped to the bulls back and no swords, not my cup of tea but they exist.
So do most living things what's your point.
ulysses
Pretty strange justification for torturing an animal.
Again an aberration , not a practice.
I don't know where you grew up. Most people I know died peacefully ,others were surrounded by doctors and caring family members. No crowds cheering and baying for blood, no matadors sticking swords into them.
I guess I should be asking , do you really have a point?
TheQuestion
Must be nice.
Given the shot to go out fighting I'd take it any day of the week.
I like watching bullfights and you tried to take a nonexistant moral highground. Guess that's what it really comes down to.
ulysses
Yup, I too felt like that, but then teenage got over. Anyway, there's a half-wit out there who tried to take out bin-laden alone, I think you need to share notes with him.
Not visible from where you stand, gotta grow up.