After heated debate, Catalonia bans bullfighting

In all of Spain, bullfighting is a sport that is seen as tradition. Finally, in the month of July in 2010, Catalonia becomes the first city in Spain to ban bullfighting.

There was much debate to the controversial sport before the ban in Catalonia. According to the article from LA Times, "Lawmakers in catalonia's regional assembly approved the ban after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for maintaining tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty."

Conservatives have said that banning bullfighting would "undermine Spanish unity", and seeing it as a "gratuitous attack on one of the country's most hallowed tradition." Others who are for banning bullfighting believe that this traditional sport of Spain's is "not a tradition seeped in romance, but a barbaric practice seeped in blood."

Bullfighting can be seen to be an act of animal cruelty in that innocent bulls are brought into an arena and provoked to anger by bullfighters. The professional bullfighters, called toreros, practices maneuvers on the bull at close range, while risking their own lives getting trampled. Although this risk is minimal compared to the bull's sure death. The bullfight usually concludes with the toreros stabbing the bull with a sword. This kind of sport is considered a blood sport that involves animal cruelty because according to the Spanish style of bullfighting, a picador will enter the arena and first stab the bull's morillo, which is muscle in the neck. This will change the behaviour of the bull in that the head will lower. Next, three sharp sticks will be inserted into the bull's shoulder. This will result in the bull to become angry and make the fight more "exciting" for fans. The last act that ends the bullfight, is the stab through the heart and between the shoulder blades. This is called the estocada.

Bullfighting is criticized by many people as a bloody sport because the bull suffers a slow, torturous death and yet its death is seen as entertainment. The bull is practically defenseless against the bullfighters which continues to weakens it before the final kill is issued. It is not like that the bulls are angry so that they attack the bullfighter, but that they are in agony. Their cause of agony is due to the bullfighter's attack towards weakening it. During the last stage, when the bullfighting pulls out a traditional red flag to drive the bull towards him, he is further provoking the bull, not by the colour, but by the movements. This act appears to be mocking and used purely for entertainment and provocation before the bull's death by a sword through the heart and between the shoulders. No wonder, anti-bullfight activists are enraged. Bullfights are used to entertain the blood-lusted audience with no consideration for the animal itself.

And thus, continuing even today, the sport of bullfighting created a heated debate for friends and foes of bullfighting. Protests supporting and refuting the issue stood in front of the parliament building, pressing their case against bullfights.

Haven't you ever heard Mom say, "Don't play with your food?"

References:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/28/world/la-fgw-catalonia-bullfighting-20100729

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting#Spanish-style_bullfighting