Huge News! UNESCO Refuses to Include Bullfighting on Cultural Heritage List
Bullfighting must be abolished – not protected. And UNESCO seems to agree. The organisation has refused to protect the ritualistic slaughter of bulls by rejecting an application for bullfighting to be classified as “cultural heritage in urgent need of protection”.
Earlier this year, the Spanish bullfighting lobby filed an application for the cruel spectacle to be included on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The proposal immediately prompted outrage.
Animal rights groups around the globe, including La Tortura No Es Cultura collective, Animal Guardians, PETA and our international affiliates, united in an anti-bullfighting twitterstorm using the hashtag #NoTauromaquiaEnUnesco (“NoBullfightingAtUNESCO”). We also joined forces to send a letter urging UNESCO not to condone cruelty to animals. We also joined forces to send a letter urging UNESCO not to condone cruelty to animals. Thankfully for bulls, our voices were heard and the application was rejected!
WTF.
Bullfighters want the torture and slaughter of bulls to be given special protection by @UNESCO. Bullfighting is cruelty, NOT culture. RT if you agree @AAzoulay @UNESCOUK #NoTauromaquiaEnUnesco pic.twitter.com/krEVXB4GGV— PETA UK (@PETAUK) September 9, 2020
Torture, Not Culture
Every year, approximately 40,000 bulls are violently killed in bullrings across Europe and 250,000 animals are stabbed in bullfights worldwide.
Bullfighters taunt, exhaust, and stab each bull with a lance and several harpoon-like banderillas until he becomes weakened from blood loss. Then, the matador stabs the wounded animal with a sword, and if he doesn’t die straight away, other weapons are used to cut his spinal cord.
Many bulls are paralysed but still conscious as their ears or tail are cut off to be given to the matador as trophies.
Let’s Shut Down This Abusive Industry
UNESCO’s decision shows that the barbaric slaughter of bulls can’t be justified as “tradition” or “culture” and that the sadistic industry is dying out. To shut it down completely, people everywhere must refuse to support this blood sport in any way – whether that be in Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, or the handful of other countries that still allow it to continue.
PETA and other animal rights groups have long been speaking out against this bloodbath – please add your name to help bulls:
