Victory for Bulls: Catalonia Bans Bullfighting!

© iStockPhoto.com / Kameleon007

PETA – and everyone who cares about animals worldwide – is elated that the Catalan Parliament has banned bullfighting. It was clear that the tide had turned when 180,000 signatures were collected in support of the ban. The people have spoken: cruelty to animals – disguised as “tradition” – will no longer be tolerated. Various cities and towns across Spain, France, Portugal, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador have all recently declared themselves anti-bullfighting, and now Catalonia becomes the second Spanish region to ban bullfighting outright, after the Canary Islands in 1991. According to a 2009 Gallup survey, 76 per cent of Spaniards have no interest in attending or supporting bullfights.

Bullfighting is a cowardly pursuit. The bull is often severely debilitated with laxatives, blows to the kidneys, dehydration and petroleum jelly smeared into his eyes before he enters the ring. In a typical bullfight, men on blindfolded horses drive lances into the bull’s back and neck, impairing the animal’s ability to lift his head. Others plunge banderillas – bright sticks with harpoon points – into his back. Finally, after the bull has become weakened from blood loss, the matador appears and attempts to kill the bull but often succeeds only in further maiming the disadvantaged animal, who is then dragged out of the arena by his horns, sometimes still conscious, before a new bull enters and the same horrifying spectacle starts all over again.

However, after today’s inspiring news, it looks like those mean matadors will have no choice but to hang up their capes for good! And all of us at PETA could not be happier!