Every year, over 40,000 bulls are barbarically slaughtered in bullrings around the world. From the instant they get in the ring, they have a death sentence. They are often weakened by being drugged, having their horns shaved to impair their navigation, have beatings with sandbags, debilitated with laxatives, and/or have petroleum rubbed into their eyes to impair their ability to judge distances. Just typing this alone makes me very sad and weak. I cannot even imagine.. if I get a little shampoo in my eye when showering, it is very painful.. much less petroleum purposely rubbed into them.
In the usual Spanish bullfight, the bull enters the arena and is approached by picadors, who are men on blindfolded horses who drive lances into the bull's back and neck muscles. So, from here on the bull will be impaired to lift his head to defend. They twist and gouge these lances for a large amount of blood loss. Then, the banderilleros enter on foot, distract the bull, and dart around him while plunging banderillas - which are brightly colored sticks with harpoon points on their ends.. into their back. When the bull has weakened from the significant amount of blood loss, the banderilleros run the bull round and round to make it very dizzy so it can no longer chase. Lastly, the matador appears and after provoking a few exhausted charges from the dying animal, he tries to kill the animal with his sword. If he misses, succeeding only to further mutilate the animal, the executioner is called to stab the exhausted and submissive bull to death. The dagger is supposed to cut the animal's spinal cord, but even this can be blundered, leaving the bull conscious but paralyzed as he is chained by his horns and dragged out of the arena. If the crowd is happy with the matador, the bull's ears and tail and cut off and presented as trophies. A few minutes later, another bull enters the arena and the sadistic cycle starts again. Wow, this really just sounded like a made up horror movie.. but it's not.
The tourist industry is one of the biggest supporters of bullfighting. Bullfighters and travel agents promote the fight as a fair competition.. a festival. They don't tell the tourists that bull never has a chance to defend themselves.. much less live. Most foreign visitors who witness this are saddened, repulsed, and disgusted bu the cruelty and never want to see it again.
Tourism also keeps the cruel "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, in business. The bulls are kept in crowded, dark enclosures, and when they are prodded into the streets with electric shocks, they are momentarily blinded by the sunlight. The runners hit the animals with rolled up newspapers and twist their tails. The panicked animals often loose their footing on the corners and crash into walls, breaking bones, and injuring themselves. Most tourists don't know the bulls will be killed later on in the bullring.
In April 2004, the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city in an effort to eventually ban this primitive blood sport. In November 2008, the Initiative for Catalonia Greems, one of the three main political parties in Catalonia, resolved to oppose bullfighting, and a motion has been submitted to the Catalonia Parliament that could expand existing cruelty-to-animals laws to include bullfighting. According to a Gallup survey taken in October 2006, 72 percent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights, up from 54 percent in the eighties.
In Portuguese bullfights, the bull is stabbed with banderillas bu a matador on horseback, causing deep wounds and significant blood loss. The bull is then tormented by eight forcados, seven of whom grab the animals head while the eighth pulls on his tail, eventually stopping the exhausted animal. The bull is then dragged out of the arena and left bleeding to await his slaughter.. hours or even DAYS later.
And, lastly.. bulls are not the only victims in bullfights. Horses are used to carry people with spears and other weapons in order to stab the bull to weaken him. Horses are blindfolded and sometimes have wads of newspaper stuffed in their ears so that they won't be spooked by the charging bull or the noise of the crowd. These animals are often gored as riders force them to move close to the terrified bulls, who try to
protect themselves. Each year, approximately 200 horses are killed in bullrings around the world....
In the usual Spanish bullfight, the bull enters the arena and is approached by picadors, who are men on blindfolded horses who drive lances into the bull's back and neck muscles. So, from here on the bull will be impaired to lift his head to defend. They twist and gouge these lances for a large amount of blood loss. Then, the banderilleros enter on foot, distract the bull, and dart around him while plunging banderillas - which are brightly colored sticks with harpoon points on their ends.. into their back. When the bull has weakened from the significant amount of blood loss, the banderilleros run the bull round and round to make it very dizzy so it can no longer chase. Lastly, the matador appears and after provoking a few exhausted charges from the dying animal, he tries to kill the animal with his sword. If he misses, succeeding only to further mutilate the animal, the executioner is called to stab the exhausted and submissive bull to death. The dagger is supposed to cut the animal's spinal cord, but even this can be blundered, leaving the bull conscious but paralyzed as he is chained by his horns and dragged out of the arena. If the crowd is happy with the matador, the bull's ears and tail and cut off and presented as trophies. A few minutes later, another bull enters the arena and the sadistic cycle starts again. Wow, this really just sounded like a made up horror movie.. but it's not.
The tourist industry is one of the biggest supporters of bullfighting. Bullfighters and travel agents promote the fight as a fair competition.. a festival. They don't tell the tourists that bull never has a chance to defend themselves.. much less live. Most foreign visitors who witness this are saddened, repulsed, and disgusted bu the cruelty and never want to see it again.
Tourism also keeps the cruel "Running of the Bulls" in Pamplona, Spain, in business. The bulls are kept in crowded, dark enclosures, and when they are prodded into the streets with electric shocks, they are momentarily blinded by the sunlight. The runners hit the animals with rolled up newspapers and twist their tails. The panicked animals often loose their footing on the corners and crash into walls, breaking bones, and injuring themselves. Most tourists don't know the bulls will be killed later on in the bullring.
In April 2004, the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city in an effort to eventually ban this primitive blood sport. In November 2008, the Initiative for Catalonia Greems, one of the three main political parties in Catalonia, resolved to oppose bullfighting, and a motion has been submitted to the Catalonia Parliament that could expand existing cruelty-to-animals laws to include bullfighting. According to a Gallup survey taken in October 2006, 72 percent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights, up from 54 percent in the eighties.
In Portuguese bullfights, the bull is stabbed with banderillas bu a matador on horseback, causing deep wounds and significant blood loss. The bull is then tormented by eight forcados, seven of whom grab the animals head while the eighth pulls on his tail, eventually stopping the exhausted animal. The bull is then dragged out of the arena and left bleeding to await his slaughter.. hours or even DAYS later.
And, lastly.. bulls are not the only victims in bullfights. Horses are used to carry people with spears and other weapons in order to stab the bull to weaken him. Horses are blindfolded and sometimes have wads of newspaper stuffed in their ears so that they won't be spooked by the charging bull or the noise of the crowd. These animals are often gored as riders force them to move close to the terrified bulls, who try to
protect themselves. Each year, approximately 200 horses are killed in bullrings around the world....
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