BULLFIGHTING: A EUROPEAN SHAME

Bullfighting is one of the worst forms of animal abuse. This bloody tradition still exists in Spain, Portugal, France and also in several Latin American countries. Every year, tens of thousands of bulls and hundreds of horses are tortured and killed during bullfights and other ‘bull festivals’, such as the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona (Spain).

While 72 per cent of the Spanish, 83 per cent of the French and 85 per cent of the Portuguese people are against bullfights, the bullfighting industry keeps organising bullfights for an ever declining public. Every year, millions of euros in subsidies are given to bull breeders, bullrings, bullfighting schools and other branches of the bullfighting industry.

Unfortunately, a lot of tourists still go to see bullfights, because they think it is part of Spanish culture, while only 7 per cent of the Spanish people declare an interest in bullfighting. Some tourists think that ‘you have to see it to form an opinion on it’. They also think bullfighting is a fairly innocent event — it is not. Bulls are tortured to death with spears, lances, swords and daggers and often choke to death. In the bullrings, many horses are also victims of bullfighting because they suffer severe injuries, often leading to their death.

Although most bullfights are mainly attended by the older generation, people on average of over 50 years of age, many children visit the bullfights and are exposed to violence against defenceless animals in and outside the bullrings. Scientific studies prove that these images are very harmful for children’s souls and well-being. Very often, their perception of animals is disturbed; after seeing bullfights, children can become insensitive to animal abuse or they are heavily traumatised by what they have seen in the bullring. Children of all ages have access to all bullfights in every country. An exception is Catalonia (Spain): in this region, access to the bullrings is denied to children younger than 14 years old.

The Comité Anti Stierenvechten (CAS) wants to put an end to bullfighting and other cruel events in which bulls and other animals are abused. CAS was founded in 1993, following an initiative of the Spanish animal-protection organisation Asociación Defensa Derechos Animal (ADDA). The main goal of CAS was informing Dutch tourists and travel organisations about the cruelty of bullfighting, to stop tourists from visiting these cruel events. Nowadays, one hardly sees a Dutch tourist at a bullfight.

The activities of the CAS have expanded. It not only informs the Dutch and Belgian public but also conducts peaceful campaigns, participates in peaceful manifestations, supports colleague organisations in the bullfighting countries, and lobbies with the European Union and national/local governments.

CAS is the largest anti-bullfighting organisation in the world, with almost 15,000 paying members and thousands of sympathisers in the Netherlands and Belgium. CAS works closely together with animal rights organisations from all over the world and is a member of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).