PETA’S Response To Catalan Parliament’S Vote To Ban Bullfighting

For Immediate Release:
28 July 2010

Contact:
Alice Barnett +44 (0) 20 7457 9229 ext 229; [email protected]

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 even petroleum jelly placed in 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 in only further maiming the disadvantaged animal.

For more information please visit PETA.org.uk