The theme for this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “Wrong”.
I often reflect on the heated and ongoing debate about the traditional spectacle of bullfighting which is popular in several countries including Spain and Portugal. While some people refer to bullfighting as an “Art” others refer to it as “Sport”. Either way should people inflict pain on an animal in the name of sport or art?
Is it wrong?
As we drove through Spain we saw the iconic silhouettes of the Osborne Bull erected in prominent locations such as on hillsides or on the vast desolate plains. I did not appreciate the size of the bulls until, inspecting this photo more closely, I spotted the people below!
Originally created as part of an advertising campaign to promote Veterano brandy the iconic bull has over time been adopted as the unofficial emblem of Spain and used on many touristy items. I wrongly assumed these bulls symbolised bullfighting, but fortunately they do not (thank you Mr. Google)!
What a magnificent animal so why “bullfighting”?
Please share your opinion either “for” or “against” in the comments section below. I would be grateful if you would also take a moment to vote in the poll – it will be interesting to measure my readers view.
Want to know more about bullfighting?
Check out Bullfighting on Wikipedia
Piglet in Portugal 
Bullfighting is the culture of the ignorants , the art of imbeciles , and the cultural identity of the uneducated .
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the amount of hypocrisy in here is appalling, if you eat meat or drink milk you have no moral right to discuss bullfighting. Living in a cage without any possibility to move during their entire lives are far worse than the lives these bulls have, so the next time you eat a nice piece of meat remember where those bulls come from and from where your meat comes from, torture is torture, whether done for necessity, profit or fun.
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I agree Migue. I am a vegan. Have been for 27 years.
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Sorry Miguel.
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I have a few friends who are Spanish, they are totally against bull fighting, but they are young! I’ve a feeling it is the older generation who are determined to cling onto this outdated cruel disgusting public violation of a sentient being.
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cruel and insane,should be banned for good.. tradition is an excuse..ill call it a lobby,money interest..if all stood still for tradition,slavery would still be real,women would not vote,etc… its an hipocrisy to name tradition for the sake of animal torture…
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As portuguese, i must say bullfighting is one of the shames of this country. Most of us to not like this cruel, barbaric and dark ages tradition. Toward abolition!
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The delight in the misery of the human being’s own.
His character is self-destructive.
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The banning of bullfights in Catalunya was not done with any great thoughts of animal welfare. It was a political act carried out to show that Catalunya is different, and considers itself not to be a part of Spain Only bull fighting in the ring was banned; other ritualistic events such as the correbous are still permitted.
It is also highly unlikely that Bull Fighting will be banned elsewhere in Spain all the time that Rajoy is the leader of the government since he is a fully fledged supporter and Bull Fight afficionado.
Bull Fights, and the fiestas throughout Spain and the rest of the world which permit bulls running through the streets (Pamplona etc.,) or fiestas such as are seen in Denia and all the other ritualistic torture events against any animal carried out across this country should be permanently banned. There is no place or morally acceptable reason for such barbaric practices to continue.
One has only to look at the way galgueros and hunters dispose of their dogs when they are no longer fit enough or fast enough to compete to see why anti blood sport activists and animal lovers the world over despise the supporters of such blood feasts.
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Any form of inflicting pain on any animal for entertainment is basically evil.
It may be classed as culture, or art form. But this argument is wearing thin.
All humans know, without exception that it is wicked to enjoy the suffering of animals or humans, weather it be a deliberate or accidental act that causes another creature to suffer. to enjoy it is evil. Any reason or excuse, any culture or art form. That allows humans to enjoy the suffering of other living things is wrong. Although most nations are guilty of allowing cruelty. Spain is perhaps the biggest perpetrator, in allowing it’s children to be indoctrinated with barbarism, under the guise of culture and art. If Spain were to outlaw all of it’s cruel spectacles. It would he a massive step forward for the human race.
It will take centuries to out breed these throwbacks. They are stopping the rest of the human race from moving forward to true humanity.
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No country owns these animals , nor do they have any claim to them or their lives because it is “their tradition” !! These aniamls , ALL animals , belong to NO ONE to abuse as they see fit ! Tradition my ass !!! Bulls are not the property of Spanairds anymore than whales are the property of the Japanese !! Sick of that poor assed excuse ! If your country is abusing an animal and claiming tradition as an excuse , you damn well right I’ll make it MY BUSINESS !!!! >(
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For all the horses that are gored and have to be stomped on to try and stop their heart while their throat is slit, and then all the bulls that are tortured and killed in the name of……….sport!! I am sorry!!! Learn to throw a ball for godsake!!!
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Creio que as touradas só serão extintas se os países que a praticam sofram sanções gravíssimas como cancelamento de vistos turísticos, exclusão do mercado internacional onde as exportações serão cortadas, e outras mais que serão devidamente estudadas a fim de prensar essas culturas contra a parede, para que eles entendam que a comunidade internacional é contra essa prática hedionda!
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Spain needs to evolve! Fox hunting was an important tradition here but was banned because it’s cruel, time for the same to happen to bullfighting.
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Tradition is to do the same WRONG thing as my grandfathers DID !
Im portuguese and IM AGAINST THIS TORTURE , this shit makes me fill embarrassed. !!!!! HELP US FIGHYT AGAINST IT , PLEASE !
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Hi i’m Portuguese and belive me there is more and more people thinking we most stop this cruelty.
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I am portuguese also and completly against bullfights. About the horses: try to see how a horse comes when leaves the arena. The knight needs to use spurs so agressive that is frequently bleeding largely. Would not be the first time that a horse is catched for a bull and is killed. About “pega” by “forcados”: it can seem a brave, no painfull and honest fight… But if we think that the bull is completly on pain, exhausted and have 6 or 7 men above his neck where are deep iron sticks, is easy to see that can’t be honest. More, the rest of the men are pulling his tail, that is the continuation of his spine, fundamental to his balance. If we are abble to remember how painfull is anytime that we hit our coccix, we can imagine that is far of be a simple thing. As somebody said, recently one forcado got paralised in direct on television. About the spectators: no limits about age. Children very young can assist to performances where animals are tortured, men get quadriplegic or horses can finish with his intestines out; finally, about the bull: as a herbivore, he isnt a predator. To get that mood, he is absolutely scared because he was taken from his natural enviroment, he had his horns cutted (extremely painfull), he get iron sticks in hook shape that cut his flesh in any movement and finally he get 10 men on him. After this, usually he needs to wait 2 or 3 days with pain and fever till the slaughterhouse be open. All this to an animal that is so sensible that feels even a fly that stands in his body.
About art: we have dozens of dance, theater groups very good, without any financial support while bullfight have all kind of subsidies. If we think that “art” have as objective the increase of conscious, i would say that are big “friends interests” that help to mantain this false tradition; finally, about tradition: look in wikipedia that is not so old to be called tradition. Progressive governs in Portugal, long time ago, already banned this practice.
More than all kind of likes or unlikes: which is the right of a being transform the extreme suffering of another one in a spectacule of fun? If international movements fight injustices in all world, independently of the apparent reasons as economic, religion or tradition, international opinion CAN’T ignore this barbarity.
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Just read all the latest post on this sorry subject & for the first time I feel that there is a possiability that “Bull Baiting” will be stopped soley because so many new poster have taken time to post after such a long time off this thread being dormant.
Lets hope 2013 will bring in change world wide to animal cruelty
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Hi, Ingles. Unfortunetly I am not so sure that bullfights will stop in 2013. It’s proofen long time ago that the majority of portugueses would stop bullfights but while high powers autorities continue giving money to bullfighters, bulls breeders and paying buses and transports to spectators come to see that for free, is almost impossible to stop that. There are very strong and old powers financiating bullfights.
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Hi Vargas .Eu vivo na esperança de que vai.
But I sadly have to agree with you too, There’s to much money involed in this shamefull “industry”
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Well said Vargas.
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Culture is not cruelty.
Put the bull out of the bullfights
Instead, put a lion.
“Sport” for sick people!
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Torture or maltreatment of an animal is never OK. No animal deserve such cruelty. What have the cattle done to deserve such cruelty except being born as cattle? It has nothing to do with culture… only pure evil. How about teaching people compassion and love to animals instead? Maltreatment or torture of an innocent animal can’t be entertaining and should be banned. If it’s called tradition or culture, I think this cruel tradition or culture should belong to the history books. In the middleage witches were burned… that was a tradition/culture… but fortunately this dark sites of a countrys history have stopped. Bull fighting and other kind of cruelty to animals shouldn’t be going on in 2012. Remember the way a country treat its animals shows the rest of the world how civilized a country is. Shame on those countries that allows torture of animals and call it “entertainment/culture”.
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Hi Tina and welcome. Cruelty to any animal should not be allowed and tradition should perhaps evolve with the times. However, bullfighting still takes place here in Portugal and there have been several gory photos in the press recently. I can’t understand why, but try not to judge and desperatly understand but I still return to the question…”Why?”
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There was a previous comment about bullfighting traditionally being a right of passage for young men, and I think this is most likely its origin – however, this tradition began in a time when people used to burn cats for entertainment, watch hangings for entertainment and all manner of other brutal and horrific acts were committed for violet entertainment, for violent times. Do we want to keep violent times or are we working towards a more peaceful world. I believe most people want a peaceful world, but do not realise that perpetuating and supporting violent acts like bullfighting, or running with the bulls, or rodeo, is demonstrating a desire for violence that is contributing to the violent nature of our human world and the false belief that humans need to demonstrate their dominance.
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Hi Wendy and welcome 🙂 You make some good points about violence in society in times gone by. But how far have we progressed when women can be stoned to death and there is violence in our streets, just for th sake of violence? Have we really progressed as a society? What hope is there to stop bullfighting – I hope so because otherwise violence is self-prepetuating.
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Bullfighting (“ROMAN CATHOLIC”): It’s not ART; it’s not CULTURE; it’s not SPORT; it’s “TORTURE.”
Bullfighting: The most “indefensible and abhorrent” type of animal abuse that IS and always WILL BE; a “Tradition of CRUELTY.”
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; wounded animal.
It’s a sickening “ROMAN CATHOLIC” 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) in Spain; Portugal; France; Mexico; Colombia; Ecuador; Guatemala; Peru and Venezuela.
“ROMAN CATHOLIC” 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. He is wedged into a tiny corral and drugged to make him 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; his hooves are burned with turpentine.
They blind him with vaseline and salt rubbed into his eyes and drug him; they stuff his ears so that he cannot hear; they stuff his nostrils so that he cannot breath. Just before he enters the ring 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 (“VATICAN; ROMAN CATHOLIC”) savagery by supporting it with your “tourist dollars.”
So-called “bloodless bullfights” are practiced in the United States, where bulls are mutilated (up to four inches of horn is hacked off with a saw down to the tender quick to interfere with his ability to navigate); teased, harassed, terrified; confused and tormented, only to be killed once outside the arena in a Mexican bullfight; a slaughterhouse or elsewhere.
In these events bullfighters perform who “mutilate; torture and kill” many bulls during regular “bloody” bullfights.
“Bloody or bloodless,” (“ROMAN CATHOLIC”) bullfighting is a “senseless, degrading” spectacle that has no place in a “civilized” society.
Help these “suffering” animals – STAY AWAY FROM BULLFIGHTS; SPEAK OUT against them and DEMAND that they be “ABOLISHED.”
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Hi MichelJohn and welcome!
Crikey I had no idea what goes on behind the scenes! My understanding was bullfighting differs from country to country, does everything you describe above apply to Portugal?
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Well, is because of comments like this one, that people like you, against bullfights, lose all of their reason and credibility. Old Bulls? Drugged? Newspaper in their ears? Vaseline or salt in the eyes? Blankets? laxatives? hungry? Are you out of your mind?? I respect all opinions, if they are reasonable and true. What you say has no sense at all, and show that are against bullfight, just because. And shows too, that you don’t know anything about the Portuguese Bullfight. Spreading that kind of arguments, you are doing a favor to who defends bullfight, as they are so stupid and untrue, that people laugh of it. It’s that kind of fundamentalism that locks the search for solutions.
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Hi Samuel, I am relieved you have responded becuase although I know very little about bull fighting I find it hard to believe anyone would treat animals in this way.
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Hi Samuel, thank you so much for your considered and knowledgable response! This exactly the debate – hearing from both sides we should have 🙂 Sometimes it is difficult to a foreigner looking in from the outside to understand.
… your idea ” I think as any spectacle, or sport, should have some evolution.” and your following paragraph is an interesting one.
I am intrigued by Pega and have watched several clips on YouTube.
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I am Portuguese and love animals, since I got memory, I always saw (and still see) on the tv the BBC episodes of wild animals. But I confess that I have mixed feelings about bullfighting.
First of all I think people should not talk about something they have never seen, or have not even tried to understand, because the Portuguese Bullfighting is very different from the rest of the world.
Second, I hope that all the people who criticize the fact that they use the bull and torture him, when confronted with a spider or a mosquito at night when trying to sleep, not smash them. I hope that all of them were consistent.
At the north of Europe, the young boys show their brave mounting a horse running against other knight with a long spear. At the south, the young boys ride a bull.
After that I will explain a few things: I think most people that assist Bullfighting, go there to see the horses and “Pega” (a group of man facing the bull with no armory, eye to eye), do not go to see the torture of the bull. Go there to see the risk, the skills, the brave, and the courage.
If the bull is angry, and has not been seriously injured,(if the rider is good, the bull will not be seriously injured), the bull will be recovered to have “young bulls” braves too. If he is seriously injured then he goes for the slaughterhouse for beef.
If you look on the net, you will see spectacular images of horses “dribbling” (jink, I don’t know how to say, “escaping”?) the bulls.
It is not true that the bull has not defense, I’ve seen several horses injured, riders of horses falling, and this week a young one of “Pega” was trampled by the bull, went to the hospital and will stay paraplegic. The Portuguese knights don’t have any armor, there are no guns on the pitch, beside the iron spear.
However, I think as any spectacle, or sport, should have some evolution. For example, instead of sitck the irons in the bull, they could touch only with them, and then a dye releasing (pretty much like paint ball) to verify that was well performed. You may need a small electric shock to poke the bull, I think with something like that, everyone will be happy.
I don’t see anyone preoccupied with Pamplona bulls released, and I don’t think that is less stressing for the bull. And some bulls gets serious injured when running in the cobblestones.
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Hi. Samuel. Sorry you are wrong over your comment to do with The Pamplona Bull Run.
There are several Animal Rights Groups thru out europe who are trying to get this stopped, The League Againts Cruel Sports UK is just one of them check out there WS please.
As to you idea of not using the “Bandeirilhas” (stabbing spears) to try to make this spectacle slightly more acceptable you sure must know that the
” Aficionados” (fan’s) would never accept this & I can only surmise that these persons love to see a animal tortured & tormented.
ps. I went to a Bull Baiting in 1989 in Lagos Algarve ,I walked out after 10 mins because to me it was just cruel & pointless.
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There is no Bullbiting in Portugal, this is a sport born in england and our tourada shoundn’t be confused with that, particulary becaouse this is an art and cultural coming from the past of Portugal. Definitly it is not torture, It is hard to learn about it, and when there is a lot of misinformation about it then it is impossible to explain…
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I know this is late but I signed & hope some of you will as well
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/300/795/718/anti-bullfighting-city-forced-to-host-bullfight/?z00m=20394324
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Yesterday in Viana do Castelo there was a Bull Baiting ,A few years back The President of the Camará took heed of local public opinion & pushed thru a local Law that the ” Bull Ring” which was owened by the Camará could not longer be used for Bull Baiting- I refuse to call it fighting because the Bull has no defense.
So an group off Bull Baiting enthusiats imported a “movable ring” to get around this Law .
On PT TV News last night they showed that over 300 people from all walks of life protested out side & the Police had to be called in to calm things down.
Mentality & attitudes are changing
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So sad, Ingles. Thanks for sharing.
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My mother loved watching bullfighting on TV. I always felt sorry for the bull and the horse. I enjoy the pomp and circumstance before the real action, but then I don’t understand the attraction.
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Perhaps Mara it’s a generation difference and times are moving on. Is bullfighting in the North of Portugal more popular?
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I think it’s wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering on another living thing whatever label you use to legitimise it.
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Hi Aisha, it is certainly difficult to justify 😦
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Cruel and should be banned!
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Hi Frizztext, thanks for dropping by. Long time no speak 🙂
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I don’t know Pip. I would love to say ‘Yes, it’s cruel ban’ it, but I don’t know enough about it to say. Definitely they need to ban the killer ones though.
Great post, it’s interesting and informative. 🙂
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Hi EC, I am still trying to grapple with the “why”.
I know it’s culture and tradition and that’s what makes it so diffiuclt. They banned fox hunting in the UK and they were just hunting down vermin – the fox. that was an English tradition spanning centuries
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Can’t stand it. No different than any ‘sport’ that involves killing an animal.
Aren’t there plans afoot to have it banned in Spain?
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Hi Areknaten,
Yes, I believe there are plans to ban bullfighting in Spain, but I believe it only applies in some regions – not sure which.
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Well, it’s a start.
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I have never been to a bullfight nor have any wish to go, as I find it cruel. I know in Portugal they don´t kill the bulls as they do in Spain, but still….not my cup of tea! Other countries have cock-fighting like in Bali (Indonesia)…whatever involves animals fighting each other or men fighting with animals should not be allowed.
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Hi Sami, I thought the bull in Portugal was killed, but just not in the ring?
I am still rying to understand bullfighting.
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Hi, I’m portuguese and from time to time I go to a portuguese style bullfight, horseman and forcados (the ones that do the already mentioned “pega”). And no PiP they are not high on medronho, that’s for after the “pega”. It’s part of my culture.
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Hi Fernanda,
They are extremely brave to face the bulls!
Sometimes it is difficult for a foreigner to understand, but I’m always willing to listen and keep an open mind.
You are the first Portuguese person to comment, thank you! Culture is important as it is part of ones identity and defines who we are.
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Nicely put eof737!
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TY darling! 🙂
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It is violent and unnecessary… I know many love the tradition of it… but I wish a bull or a matador didn’t have to die. 😦
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Hi Eliz,
It would be great if they could find a compromise to encapass tradition but without violence
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Exactly my sentiments. 😉
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I’m really not sure, but I do cringe at the possibility of ANYONE getting hurt. Man or bull.
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Hi Angela, If man gets hurt it is his fault. It may seem harsh but I have no sympathy for him.
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I don`t think there`s is a right way to fight Bull ,
Great work for this challenge 🙂
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PErhaps bull jumping?
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Phew that got my blood pressure up, bull fighting is just adults doing what cruel children do when they pull the wings off flies. Perhaps i should just accept that it is a cultural thing but honestly no animal should be tortured for the spectators enjoyment. I also know several Portuguese people who want to see this degrading act banned.
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Hi Gerty, I cannot get my head round it either, but then it’s not my home country and we may have cultural do dahs in the UK others find strange…
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Yes I agree, but Wellie Wanging doesn’t hurt anyone and there’s no blood unless of course you are unfortunate enough to have one land on your bonce!
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LOL Wellie Wanging! I think it would be flip flop wanging here 🙂 I suppose we had fox hunting which was banned in the UK. However, the fox was consdidered vermin and the bull is not…
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Bullfighting is neither ART nor SPORT . . . it is IGNORANCE in action.
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Nice one Nancy!
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There is also bull fighting in southern part of Japan. It’s an important culture even now.
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I never knew there was bullfighting in Japan. It would be interesting to know why it is an important part of culture.
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My view – The torture, baiting, taunting, injuring of any form of life, in the name of entertainment is wrong.
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Hi Clara, I’m with you on that!
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Bull fighting might be part of culture for some but that does not mean it should be perpetuated in current more evolved times. It is cruel and inhumane and should be banned outright imo.
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Hi Optie,
It must be so difficult when bullfighting is very much part of your heritage to see that it is cruel. However, the tide is turning and several Portuguese I have spoken to are totally against it.
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During many years of world travel I have been to just two bullfights: once as a very young woman in Madrid and once years later in Mexico City. I stayed for the duration and enjoyed the early cultural parts of the parades, the colour and the costumes and spent the rest of the afternoons with my head in the lap: I simply could not watch beautiful animals thus tortured. I guess ‘horses for courses’: I did not have to go and I did not have to stay, but never again . . .
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Hi Eha,
I can imagine the cultural parts of the parade were enjoyable. Perhaps they ought to substitute the real bull for two men dressed as a bull and go from there… Thanks for sharing
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They call it a sport but the bull doesn’t stand a chance what’s fair in that? The poor beast is tortured and almost bleeds to death before it’s killed – it’s barbaric, and the whole bull fighting thing needs to stop. Cultures can be very strong, but they have been known to change.
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Hi Barb, it’s not fair, that’s what makes it so sad 😦 Spain is rich in culture especially the festas, flamenco dancing and guitar. Just a shame about the bull fighting.
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Interesting. I wanted a photo of the bull but everytime I passed one, it never seemed like a place where you could walk/hike to it and take a photo. I didn’t know the reason behind them. I just figured bulls seem to symbolize Spain. Thanks for the lesson.
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Hi Roaming the world,
I took the photograph from the car – I had my camera on standby for what seemed hours! When I think of Spain I think of Bullfighting, flamenco music and dancers. It is a country rich in culture – I love Spain, but would not like to live there.
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Haha. I snagged one from the car as well. I guess that’s the way to do it.
yes, that’s most people’s idea of Spain.
I’m curious why you say you couldn’t live there? I lived in the South for 9 months and have mixed feelings about long term- curious to hear someone else’s impressions?!
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All the houses have iron bars across the windows. To be honest it did not feel right for us…much preferred Portugal. the people are mostly friendly and helpful. Also it’s the only place I know where everything is not bolted down and there is an element of trust
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I am totally, completely and absolutely against bull fighting.
I don’t give a damn if it is a culture thing….it is cruel.
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Hi Granny, I agree but unfortunately tradition and culture can be very strong…
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Shall I take the bull by the horns or throw a spanner in the works.
I have been to a Bull Fight in Moita and enjoyed every second of the whole days event. I was living in Portugal at the time and it was a special day out for many of my friends in the village where I lived.
We set up a BBQ close to the ring, then enjoyed the spectacular bull fights and the nights entertainment.
The bulls are not actually killed in the ring in Portugal, unlike Spain, so maybe easier to watch, The horsemanship is amazing and a 10 locals stood facing the bull as it charges for the first in-line to jump between the horns was really man against beast no holes barred. This is called a PEGA I think.
I am not into violent films or violence of any kind, but this was so much a part of the Portuguese culture and i really did get caught up in the whole spectacle.
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Hi Steve,
thank you for sharing your experience. I’d love to have seen 10 grown men facing a bull as it charged. Were they high on medronho? Courage comes in all forms. I did watch something on Portuguese TV along the lines you described and again the question “WHY?” came to mind.
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Hi Piglet
I wont put a link , but just Google Portuguese Pega. Towns have their own Pega teams, I have seen a few front men carried off on stretchers, they just then add another man to the team until the bull is caught. Totally crazy in many ways, but Its the matcho side of the Portuguese nature.
In the UK there are horse killed in the Grand National and other events in the name of sport, but I am sure many of us have placed a bet on the Grand National. We could ban most sports that involve animals.
Watching a pega I did feel that I a way the bull sometimes got his own back, but I do totally understand the strong feelings against bull fighting. I just wanted to put the other side of the coin and expected a little flack.
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I will check out Pega – thanks. No, I would not give you flack I asked for both opinions and respect you had the courage to express yours 🙂 IT would not do for us to all be the same 🙂
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What a pathetic person you are Steve. To get any pleasure from watching an animal being taunted and at risk of injury is simply sick. I think people who get off on watching ANY sort of violence seriously have something wrong with them.
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I grew up in Venezuela, and “Fiesta Brava” was one of the shows I’d watch with my dad. I remember when we first saw a lady bullfighter and what a big deal THAT was! There are many things I accepted growing up that I’ve examined from a different perspective as an adult. Some things still work, others…don’t. One of the things I realize is that there is a lot of emotion tied to self-identification. How many times have we heard “But [insert annoying habit here] is part of my charm!”
Tortura no es cultura – I agree with that!
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Hi Margarita,
I agree torture is not culture. I love discovering the different aspects of Portuguese culture…but not this one.
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I am one of those who bought into the idea that the bulls were elevated in this process rather than degraded by being sent to the slaughter house. But then I attended several bull fights in Madrid and a more gory , hideous spectacle I’ve never seen. The bulls were tormented by picadors, lanced in the neck to the point where they could barely raise their heads to challenge the matadors. These bulls were not really allowed to defend themselves. It was a slaughter!
I understand that in Portugal the bulls are not killed. This seems preferable to me.
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Sadly the Bulls are killed here in Portugal & the flesh is sold for a permium price !
I will add because off a “loop hole” in the EU Common Agricultural Policy Bull Breeders in the EU receive the same financial benefits as Beef Farmers, so any body who pays Taxes in the EU is subsidizing the Breeders off these poor animals & therefore increasing there margins These Breeders have no intrest in Culture only profit as a quality Bull for the ring will make 6 times more Market price per weight than a Beef Animal
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Hi CC,
Sounds like the bullfighting left a lasting impression and not a good one.
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I could write a 10 page missive as to why “Bull Fighting” is so very wrong !
But will one comment
It is NOt Bull Fighting ,it is Bull Baiting
When doe’s the poor Bull ever get a chance to defend it’s self ?
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So true Ingles.
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Does the bull have a choice as to whether he wants to participate in a spectacle that will involve him being hurt and killed?
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Far beyond wrong! 😦
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Yep, but I’d like to understand the “Why” it is so popular
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I know that I could never watch a bull fight, I can’t imagine what makes men want to fight a bull, or what compels people to go and watch.
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Hi,
I don’t understand either why people want to pay to see an animal tormented and tortured.
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Very sad, Pip.
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My instinct is to say cruel and should be banned but I think I’m too uninformed so I can’t make a choice. Sometimes things look different on the surface from how they are underneath.
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Hi Sarsm, I was always keen to go to a bullfight before I formed an opinion. However, just looking at photographs and videos and research on the net is enough for me and yes sometimes it is difficult to form a clear opinion on such an emotive subjext. The bullfight I was going to had so many demonstrators against the performance, I am glad I did not go.
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I was in Spain once staying with a family, and they wanted to take me to a bullfight. I refused too.
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There is a large movement within Spain itself for the banning of bullfighting, one of their main slogans being: ‘tortura no es arte ni cultura’ Torture is neither art nor culture. I would have to agree.
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Hi AD,
They are right “Torture is neither art nor culture” Spain and Portugal are not third world countries.
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PiP, this is an awesome post! Several years ago when I went to Cancun, Mexico, I went to see a bullfight. However, I had to leave early. It is very cruel and inhumane although I know that they later use the bull for food, I still don’t believe in torturing an animal in such way. I wish they would ban it and believe those who enjoyed watching it, have mental issues.
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Thanks Brenda, torture is a good word!
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I don’t like bull fighting but it is an important part of culture in that area. Here we have cock fighting and I feel the same way about that. The trouble is I do not think that the foreigners who live in a country have the right to impose their values on the culture of other countries. So yes, it would be nice if it was banned, but it would have to be a decision made by the indigenous population.
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Hi Lindsay,
Yes, it is difficult. However, fortunately many Portuguese and Spanish do object to it. I feel very strongly about hunting to kill an animal purely for sport and entertainment.
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Unfortunately we are not in a position to impose our views but we are quite within our rights to condemn any country that perpetuates a so called ‘tradition’ of torturing and killing animals for entertainment. It was the Uk who eventually brought an end to the slave trade in Africa, was it wrong to impose that?
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Culture and tradition count for jack-**** when the act is intrinsically BAD. Would you say the same about the culture and tradition of Irish tinkers to extort money with threats from vulnerable, elderly rural people living alone? “Ah sure it’s only their tradition”!
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