SPANISH TRADITIONS (BULLS)

In many villages and towns in Spain they organise Fiesta's (feast) to honour the name day of a certain Saint (like the fiesta held in honour of San Fermin in Pamplona). In many of these Fiesta's the released bulls are chased in the streets by a crowd with sticks, whips and knifes. Ones the bull is surrounded by the villagers, it is tortured, most of the time until death. Legs are broken, the very sensitive horns are hit off, tails are ripped off etc.

Here are some of the "Fiesta":

"Toros de Fuego" (Fire Bulls) held in Medinacelli (Soria)

This particular savagery consists in putting a kind of ball of pitch on both the horns of the bulls and setting fire to the balls (sometimes fireworks are used). The bulls are then released on the streets. These balls burn for hours, burning the horns, body and eyes, causing terrible suffering. Several times the bulls try to kill themselves against walls, due to the horrible pain.



"Toros Enmaromado" (Bull with ropes) held in Benavente (Zamora)

The bull is bound with ropes and dragged all over the village till he dies of exhaustion or by the cutting of his throat.



"El toro de Vega" (Bull of Vega)

This so called popular fiesta consists in chasing a bull with spears all over the village sticking them into his body until his death. Since the crowd think that the torture is not enough, they cut off his testicles while he is still alive.



"El toro de Coria" (Bull of Coria)

The bull walks and runs for hours in the streets while people throw darts at him. The men are aiming for the more sensitive parts of it's body like the nose, eyes and testicles. When he is too tired and weak from loss of blood to continue the escape, the villagers cut off his testicles while he is still alive.



The bullfight organisers in Spain, Portugal and France say that it is a noble and beautiful way for the bull to die in an arena. They say it is an art and that it is beautiful for the "respected, loved and privileged" bull to die while the crowd is cheering and applauding!


BEFORE THE BULL ENTERS THE ARENA:

-give the bulls very salty water before the game to weaken them with diarrhoea.
-cut up the horns very carefully (not to show) to the nerve so that the bull loses it's coordination during the game.
-put prickly glycerine into the eyes.
-give him drugs to keep it calm.
-give him, if he is too calm, electric shocks to it's testicles.
-hit him very hard on the kidneys to weaken him (bags with sand are used, they don't leave any scars) before the game.
-keep the bulls for hours in boxes in full sun where they only can stand before the game.
-Then in the arena the bull is sadistically tortured to death with spears that cut like razors, hooks, sword and harpoons.

It's common that the horses used during a bullfight get deeply wounded by the horns of the bulls, loosing their intestines and consequently dying. The horses, by nature are very frightened of the bulls, scream, so the vocal cords of these horses are cut, because the crowd doesn't want to hear the horse scream. It does happen that the horse which has been ripped open by the bull, is stitched up without anaesthetics and put back in the arena for the next fight.





The breeders of the special bulls used for bullfights get subsidies from the European Union. Many of the European citizens don't know this is happening.

text from Animal Frontline (http://www.animalfrontline.nl)