Spanish Congress to Consider Revoking Bullfighting’s ‘Cultural Heritage’ Thanks to Citizens Initiative
Madrid – Today, Spanish animal protection groups delivered 715,606 signatures to the Electoral Commission as part of the “No Es Mi Cultura” (It Is Not My Culture) citizen’s initiative, which seeks to repeal a 2013 law designating bullfighting as “cultural heritage.” Because the initiative, supported by PETA, far exceeded the minimum threshold of 500,000 signatures, the Spanish Congresses must officially consider repealing the law. This is significant because bullfighting’s current cultural heritage status leads to government funding for the blood sport and prevents Spanish municipalities from banning the spectacle.
Images are available here. Credit: Roland Bos
“We have far exceeded the necessary threshold, which is proof of the rejection of bullfighting as a cultural heritage by Spanish society,” says AnimaNaturalis executive director Aïda Gascón. “Each signature represents a voice calling for a more ethical and animal-friendly culture.”
“Bullfighting is cruelty – not culture,” says PETA Vice President for Europe Mimi Bekhechi. “The success of this citizen-led campaign provides further proof that Spaniards want to see an end to the bloody bullfights and brings us one big step closer to the day when this archaic blood sport will be relegated to the history books.”
Every year, tens of thousands of bulls are killed in bullfighting events in Spain alone. In the bullring, assailants on horses drive lances into a bull’s back and neck before others plunge banderillas into his back, inflicting acute pain whenever he turns his head and impairing his range of motion. Eventually, when the bull becomes weak from blood loss, a matador appears and attempts to kill the animal by plunging a sword into his lungs. A knife is used to cut his spinal cord. The bull may be paralysed but still conscious as his ears or tail are cut off and presented to the matador as a trophy, and his body is dragged from the arena.
More than 125 Spanish towns and cities have declared themselves against bullfighting, and both Spain’s largest newspaper El País and TV channel Canal Toros have announced that they would stop covering it due to the change in public sentiment and a general lack of interest.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 207 923 6244; [email protected]
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