This Is the Hundredth Spanish Town to Ban Bullfighting

Last week, Sant Joan in Mallorca became the 16th town on the island to reject bullfighting – a sign of the growing Spanish resistance to this cruel and outdated pastime. The compassionate decision came after a campaign by local group Mallorca Sin Sangre.

While certain members of the political establishment in Spain still cling to the outmoded idea of killing animals for sport, grassroots resistance is turning whole swathes of the country into bullfighting-free zones.

The region of Catalonia as well as towns such as Tossa de Mar, Vilamacolum and La Vajol have banned bullfights outright, bringing the total number of municipalities that have rejected bullfighting to 100! Towns are now finding innovative new ways to celebrate traditional festivals without harming animals. For instance, Mataelpino in central Spain has introduced the Running of the Balls as a humane alternative to horrific bull runs.

Tormenting and stabbing terrified animals until they collapse and bleed to death is clearly horrifically cruel and unjustifiable for any reason – especially for “entertainment”. Understandably, most Spaniards take no pleasure in this barbaric spectacle: a recent poll found that less than a third of the population supports it, and the number of bullfights taking place is steeply declining.

There are powerful economic arguments against bullfighting, too, given that an estimated 571 million Euros in subsidies are used to prop up this archaic and unpopular industry, while millions of young people are unemployed in the country and the economy is still struggling. It’s clear that bullfighting is a dying industry. It’s reviled around the world and opposed by huge numbers of compassionate Spaniards.

Please help end the subsidies that allow the cruelty to continue by writing to the European Commission today.   “Sant Joan (Mallorca)” by A. Mobo / CC BY-SA 3.0  Bull Photo: © Tras Los Muros