Spain and bullfighting

Spain and Bullfighting
Madrid, February 23rd, 2011

La Plataforma LTNEC
Our platform gathers the main animal-rights associations in Spain

Plataforma LA TORTURA NO ES CULTURA

Index

 Brief history of bullfighting
 Do bulls suffer during corridas?
 Spaniards and bullfighting today
 Turism and bullfighting.


BRIEF HISTORY OF BULLFIGHTING


BRIEF HISTORY OF BULLFIGHTING

 Pictures from Crete, dating from about 2000 BC show male and female
acrobats confronting a bull, grabbing its horns as it charges, and vaulting over
its back.

 Around the 700‟s it is known of Moors killing bulls from horses in the Peninsula.

 History recalls that the first real bullfight as such, or ”Corrida”, took place inn
1133 at Vera, Logroño in honour of the coronation
of King Alfonso VIII at the times of the Reconquista.

 By 1726 first bullfighting hero :Francisco Romero from Ronda, who introduced
the Modern Corrida Plataforma LA TORTURA NO ES CULTURA

BRIEF HISTORY OF BULLFIGHTING: BANS

 King Philip II however found the spectacle disgusting and enlisted the
help of Pope Pius V who issued a papal bull titled De Salute Gregis in
November 1567 which forbade fighting of bulls and any other beasts as the
voluntary risk to life endangered the soul of the combatants, but it was abolished
eight years later by his successor, Pope Gregory XIII.

Bullfighting is now banned in many countries; people taking part in such activity
would be liable for terms of imprisonment for animal cruelty: Argentina, Canada,
Cuba, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United
Kingdom.

 Bullfighting was introduced in Uruguay in 1776 by Spain and abolished by
Uruguayan law in February 1912.
 Bullfighting was also introduced in Argentina by Spain but after Argentina's
independence the event drastically diminished in popularity and was abolished
in 1899 under law 2786.
 Bullfighting also saw a presence in Cuba during its colonial period but was
quickly abolished after its independence in 1901.

BRIEF HISTORY OF BULLFIGHTING: BANS

 During the 18th and 19th centuries bullfighting in Spain was banned at several
occasions (for instance by Philip V) but always reinstituted later by other
governments.

 In 1991, the Canary Islands became the first Spanish Autonomous
Community to ban bullfighting, when they legislated to ban bullfights and other
spectacles that involve cruelty to animals.

 On 18 December 2009, the parliament of Catalonia, one of Spain's
seventeen Autonomous Communities, approved by majority the preparation of
a law to ban bullfighting in Catalonia, as a response to a popular initiative
against bullfighting that gathered more than 180,000 signatures.

 On December 17, 2010 Ecuador's president Rafael Correa announced that in a
upcoming referendum, the country will be asked whether to ban bullfighting.

 In Spain, 82 cities have symbolically declared themselves “antibullfighting”, a
declaration of an ethics and policy statement adopted by the municipalities in
which they do not support and are against the practice of bullfighting and in aid
of the principles of the animal rights Plataforma LA TORTURA NO ES CULTURA

DO BULLS SUFFER DURING
CORRIDAS?
STUDY MADE BY PHD VETERINARIAN JOSÉ ENRIQUE ZALDÍVAR FROM AVAT ASSOCIATION.
(IT CONTAINS HARD IMAGES FROM REAL CORRIDAS.
TO SKIP CLICK HERE OR GO TO SLIDE 46)


TYPES OF BULLFIGHTING or LIDIA


Becerradas (Calf- fight) by apprentices:
animals over 1 year and less than 2 years old.


Amateur (Aficionado)Becerradas (Calf- fight): animals over 1
year and under 2 years old


Novilladas (Steer-fight) with banderillas (picks): Bulls around 3 years old


Rejoneo. Bulls from 4 to 5 years old


Big arena Bullfighting: Bulls from 4-5 years-old.


The Lidia

Before coming out in the ring, the bull has been kept in a small space in
darkness.
Once the door of the small room where he was kept has been opened,
he will be drawn trough a narrow corridor towards the “puerta de
chiqueros” (a door that communicates with the ring/arena. A few
moments before allowing him to enter to the ring, a short sword with the
colors of livestock to which it belongs will be driven in his neck.


The “Tercios(Thirds)” or parts of the Lidia:

De varas. (rods/wands)
De banderillas. (Arpoons with flags)
De muerte. (Death)


TERCIO DE VARAS

THIRD OF WANDS
Puya: a steel blade, 9 cm long, 6.0 cm and 3 cm steel stringed pyramidal,
sharpened at each of its edges as the blade of a scalpel. The top is
supposed to prevent trespassing the flesh of the bull more than the 9 cm,
but often paths/trajectories were measured over 30 cm with an average of
17 cm in the autopsies of bulls struggled. Each barb is open 7 different
paths. This is possible because of “accidental” down pressure made by the
picador with his 30 kilo stirrup on the puya into the bull‟s flesh.


TERCIO DE VARAS

 70% of the rods are placed behind the andirons.
 Anatomical damage: rupture of muscles (+ of 20 without considering rib
and intercostal damage), tendons, ligaments, nerves, arteries, veins, ribs
and cartilage extensions and apophyges spiny dorsal vertebrae.
 Bleeding in the spinal channel, and blood loss estimated between 8 and
18% (a bull of 550 kilos will lose between 8 and 18 liters of blood by the
action of the puya)
 The purpose of the puyas is to injure muscles, tendons, and ligaments of
the neck so that the bull can not lift his head and make him lose
strength from the pain, the injuries caused and the loss of blood.
 These also serve to measure the bravery of the bull as he can face the
horse or instead run away from it.
 One of the great harm caused by the puya frequently, is injury of the
brachial plexus, the nerve that is responsible for the innervations of the
forelimbs, and of the nerves that project parallel to the spinal cord.
The puyas driven in the sides and the chest can injure the shoulder and its
cartilage.
 They can penetrate the thorax wounding the lungs and the pleura resulting
in pneumothorax.


TERCIO DE VARAS

The “picador” (stinger) makes
“illegal”*moves to punish and further
weaken the bull:
*Illegal according to bullfighting regulation, but commonly ignored


TERCIO DE VARAS

 Metesaca (insert, remove, insert, remove ...) and corkscrew or drilling (using the
lance as though uncorking a bottle of wine). Moreover, contrary to regulations,
which says it the bull should be allowed to come out of the horse, the picador
often prevents this moving the horse to the right, and wrapping the bull, which is
known as to the “carioca”.
 A running shock (at about 30 km per hour) of an animal that weights 500 kilos
towards a stationary object about 800 kilos heavy (which is what weights the
horse, its protections, the picador and its defensas). Bullfighting media say that
the clash of the bull against the horse, is equivalent to the fall from a height of 2
meters of a bag of 45 kilos above the bull's neck.
 In 23% of cases, the step of the chopper, a 30 kilos iron frame, will cause
serious eye injury to the bull, and, according to the taxidermist of the Plaza de
Las Ventas, in 60% of cases, fractures and fissures of the skull. We have seen
in many recordings that the picador heads his step bracket to the bull's head
when the bull is going to hit the horse.


TERCIO DE VARAS


TERCIO DE BANDERILLAS

THIRD OF ARPOONS WITH FLAGS
 The banderillas (small flags) are wooden sticks with decorations, bearing in its
tip a sharp and stabbing steel harpoon, 4.5 cm in length.
 At least 4 of these will be placed, at most 8 (in case that the bullfighter also acts
as a banderillero), and the average is 6.
 The banderillas ar digged into the animal's dorsal area and will damage
muscles, blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and nerves, increasing the bleeding
caused by the puya.
 If placed incorrectly, as sometimes happens, on the side of the thorax, it may
result in pneumothorax. The aim is that as a result of pain, the bull gets
angry and he enters to the “muleta” of the bullfighter, that is, charges
against the red cape he shakes before the bull. As normally a bovine would
not charge against a human being.
 If the bull did not receive the “appropriate punishment”* with the horse and the
arpoons, the president of the lidia may ask "black flags" to be placed, whose
harpoon is larger than those used normally.

*Real words in the bullfighting regulation.

TERCIO DE BANDERILLAS


In bullfighting, not only bulls are victims, but
only them and the horses have not chosen
to be there and would escape if they were not
enclosed in a ring and forced to fight for their
lives.

In any case, it is a horrible spectacle no one
should be proud of.

TERCIO DE MUERTE

THIRD OF DEATH
 In Bullfighting is called “Suerte suprema” (supreme destiny). It consists in
introducing into the hole of needles, between the 4 th and 6 th dorsal
vertebras, a sword of 80 cm in length in order to sever the great vessels of
the thoracic cavity, the caudal vena cava and posterior aorta artery to
produce a large hemorrhage.


TERCIO DE MUERTE


TERCIO DE MUERTE

The truth is that according to
postmortem studies performed in
bulls fought, only 20% of them
achieve that objective.


TERCIO DE MUERTE

In the 80% remaining cases something very
different will happen, something that will cause
more agony to the animal.


TERCIO DE MUERTE

Cut in the bull‟s
right large lung
lobe, with slow
bleeding in the
chest cavity
which will be
causing choking
and suffocation to
the animal. The
bull will be
swallowing his
own blood, and
little threads of it
that will come out
from his mouth
and nose will be
visible.

TERCIO DE MUERTE

The “estoque” (rapier/sword) pierces the diaphragm (breathing muscle), penetrating the liver or the
stomach. The injury to the diaphragm will result in paralysis of the phrenic nerve, vital for inspiration
and expiration, which will cause severe shortness of breath, and hiccups in the animal, which will
collapse taking a few steps back and bleeding from the mouth and nose.
This sword, in its way, whether it gets in completely or partially in the chest cavity of the animal, will
cut everything along its way, it will cause profuse bleeding, and will lead the animal to a slow death
by suffocation.

TERCIO DE MUERTE

Entrance of the sword in the lungs, which causes that bleeding caused will
move from the lungs to the bronchi, then to the trachea, and then out through
the mouth and nose. The agonizing situation of the animal in these
circumstances is clear. The animal vomits blood.


TERCIO DE MUERTE

After the sword thrust, and after a pause to see if the animal falls doubling the forelimbs or not,
the “descabello” takes place, using a similar sword, but one provided of a stop at 10 cm from
the tip. This sword is inserted between the first and second cervical vertebra seeking the goal of
severing the spinal cord. It is seldom achieved at the first try, or at the second or at the third ... I
have seen novilleros trying to perform the “descabello” in steers for up to 10 consecutive times,
and some bullfighters do not lag behind.
Once the spinal cord has been sectioned, disconnection of all the motor apparatus of the bull
will take place, thus preventing him to be able to stand up again.


TERCIO DE MUERTE

The Lidia will end with the “puntilla” lace, the blade a
10 cm long knife is introduced into the space occipito
atlantoideo, which will injure the medulla oblongata, a
neural structure which connects the bulb to the brain.
The medulla has the function to transmit nerve
impulses from the spinal cord to the brain, and
regulates the movements of inhalation and exhalation
breathing and the heartbeat


TERCIO DE MUERTE

This injury, therefore, will cause cardiac arrest in the bull, not immediate, but slow, especially
if the application of the lace has not been done correctly. We can say that this sometimes
happens, as it has been certificated by one of the mulilleros of the Plaza de Las Ventas, when
he said: "Some bulls arrive to the “desolladero” (rendering place) badly “apuntillados” to the
rendering plant, and thank goodness they can not stand up.” In these cases, if the bull is cut
off one or both ears as a prize to a bullfighter, he is perfectly aware of it. The use of lace as a
method of slaughter in slaughter houses in the EU, has been forbidden many years ago, since
it was considered a cruel method of killing an animal.


END OF THE LIDIA


CLINICAL DATA

In addition to what has been described, that I hope was enough to make you
understand that these animals suffer intense torture and abuse during the
bullfight, there are scientific studies that highlight organic suffering.

The blood analysis of bulls that have been struggled indicates that all parameters
(32 measured), markers of liver, kidney and muscle functions, including
electrolytes, and some hormones, are altered in relation to physiological values,
some above and some below normal values.

Gas tests performed in these animals indicate that their blood is loaded with
carbon dioxide, and 95% of the bulls struggled suffer what is known as metabolic
acidosis that is a factor that determines unequivocally the suffering in cattle and
which is caused by the transformation of lactic acid produced in their muscles
from physical exhaustion, in lactate that will pass to the blood.


Physological alterations


Phychological suffering

What I have shown refers to physical suffering these animals undergo,
and that has its highest expression in the pain they caused them, but we
must not forget that these animals, provided of a limbic system,
responsible for processing emotions, virtually identical to ours, are able to
feel fear, panic, loneliness, and sadness in adverse situations as
described.

I invite you to place yourselves for a moment in the body and brain of
these animals, empathize with them and try to process sensations and
feelings that they can perceive and develop since they are separated from
their herd in the place where they were born and have been living until his
life ends in the ring.


A few days ago I read a text by a woman, previously a bullfights aficionada,
reasoning the transit to her conversion into anti-bullfighting, saying:

"The fighting of a bull, is a work that produces
only a corpse. Through the bullfight, the bull,
which had never been in a Plaza, learns to be
fought, that is, learsn to be what has hitherto
been without knowing, a bull for bullfighting, and
just as he learns, he discovers that
transformation destiny itself coincides with his
end at the hands of his master. " A paradox.


José Enrique Zaldívar
Veterinario
Presidente de la
Asociación de
Veterinarios
Abolicionistas de la
Tauromaquia (AVAT)


SPANIARDS AND BULLFIGHTING
GO BACK TO DO BULLS SUFFER?


Spaniards and Bullfighting

 According to the last official survey performed by Investiga-Aedemo, 67,2% of Spaniards
show no interest in bullfighting.


*Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Mouriz/estudio-sobre-la-aficin-por-los-toros-en-espaa-presentation 47


 This is supported by the different on-line polls held in all kinds of media sites.

48


 This is supported by the different on-line polls held in all kinds of media sites.

49


Voting taking place in Antena 3 on the same day of Catalonia ban
(July 28th 2010)

© 2008 F.A.A. All rights reserved
50


51


52


53


54


09/08/10

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18/08/10 Plataforma LA TORTURA NO ES CULTURA
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 Even in Madrid, capital of Spain, only a third (un 33%) of the population shows some interest on
bullfighting, which does not justify the government‟s attempt to declare it Cultural Asset of the
Autonomous Community.


*Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Mouriz/estudio-sobre-la-aficin-por-los-toros-en-espaa-presentation 57


 On the other hand, 51,609 signatures were raised in only two months with only 400 volunteers and a
popular legislative innitiative was taken to the Madrid Assemby, whose main party refused to debate
it.

58


 Likewise, the demonstration in Madrid against bullfighting on March 28th, was the largest in the
history of our country and proves that our society is widely against this atrocity..

59

An event that was widely covered internationally but silenced nationally.

60

And while Catalonia legitimally banned bullfighting, in Madrid, it was
declared Cultural Asset against the people‟s opinion.

61

People call for a violence-free society and that includes animals too.
Social networks are a great proof for it.

No es mi fiesta nacional: 375.691 members

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No es mi fiesta nacional: 23.632 members
63


Tordesillas: 16.758 members

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So Why are bullfightings still on? Subsidies.

•The bullfighting industry does generate money, but the profits only end up in
the hands of a very small number of people that belong to the bullfighting
elite.

•These „rich‟ members of the industry, knowing that their business is in
recession, do not cut their own profits, but instead ask for public money to
cover a large proportion of their expenses. Bullfighting activities are heavily
subsidised in Spain by all levels of the Government. It has been estimated that
over 600 million euros of taxpayers’ money is destined to the pro-
bullfighting industry per year in Spain.

•Many aspects of the industry receive subsidies, including: bullfighting schools,
bullfighting fan clubs, breeding and slaughtering of bullfighting bulls, purchase of
bulls for popular fiestas, promotion and marketing schemes for bullfighting,
payments by public television for the broadcasting rights of bullfights, pro-
bullfighting museums and many more. All these subsidies take money away
from serious social problems such as access to public health, education,
infrastructures, the elderly, public safety, social housing and so on.
According to a poll of Junta de Castilla y León in 2009, only 18% of Spaniards agree in giving subsidies to bullfighting. And only
9,8% of the aficionados, goes, at least, once a year to a bullfight. Plataforma LA TORTURA NO ES CULTURA
66

So Why are bullfightings still on? Subsidies.
Subsidies that go from a people struggling to make it to the end of the month, to
the wealthiest capitals of Spain.
“La duquesa de Alba, Mario Conde, Alberto Alcocer y Emilio Botín son algunos de los que
podrían perder las abundantes subvenciones agrícolas que reciben por sus fincas de recreo. Y
es que se da la circunstancia de que siete grandes propietarios españoles cobran lo mismo que
12.700 pequeños agricultores.
La intención de Bruselas es que sólo se subvencione a quienes son realmente agricultores.
Además, se pretende llevar a cabo una limitación de las cantidades, ya que algunos perceptores
pueden acumular millones de euros en ayudas. En ese caso peligran los fondos que se han
embolsado desde hace lustros terratenientes como Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, que a través
de sus sociedades cobró el año pasado 1,1 millones de euros.
Entre las familias que sacan un gran provecho de los subsidios se encuentran los Mora
Figueroa, que consiguen cosechar 5,5 millones en ayudas. Pero también cobran ayudas
banqueros, financieros y empresarios que usan sus fincas de esparcimiento para recolectar
ayudas europeas. Así, la familia de Mario Conde recibió el año pasado 458.000 euros, los
March 447.000, los Benjumea, dueños de Abengoa, 375.000; Alberto Alcocer, 316.000; y la
familia Botín, 315.000. “

http://www.tiempodehoy.com/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=50&idioma=CAS&idnoticia_PK=62106&idseccio_PK=612&h=100
820

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TURISM AND BULLFIGHTING


Tourism and Bullfighting

 The bullfighting industry often cites that bullfighting brings in important revenue
to local towns and regions. It is, however, important to remember that tourists
will visit Spain with or without bullfighting: tourists don’t go to Spain in order
to specifically watch a bullfight.

 Attending a bullfight out of curiosity and never wanting to return is a
common phenomenon amongst tourists, which certainly does not strengthen
the industry‟s claims that bullfighting is popular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VQ2kKeBd1E&feature=related

 In fact, due to the modern concept of „ethical travelling‟, more tourists are more
likely to visit Spain, Portugal or the South of France when bullfighting no
longer exists there.

 There are thousands of people on Social Networking Sites like Twitter and
Facebook who have supported the ban and express desire to travel Catalonia
after the ban takes place.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I975vwW3Cc4&feature=player_embedded#at
=101


THANK YOU


Spain and bullfighting

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