Bullfighting ban in Catalonia?
Tomas Mowlam looks at the news that Catalonia in Spain may soon ban bullfighting.
The vote in the Catalonian regional parliament today narrowly passed with 67-59 vote and five abstentions, to debate a law which could lead to a ban.
It’s a narrow victory, but a victory none the less for animal rights activists, who argue that other cruel sports like bear baiting have disappeared from Europe so why should slowly killing an equally big mammal, in an equally cruel way, have the protection of the armour of tradition and culture?
The vote came about after a petition was started with 180,000 signatures against the brutal sport by Prou! (Catalan for enough) and it has become a touchy subject.
Brigette Bardot has even waded in, with a letter to the Catalan Socialist Party which said bullfighting was “an incredibly sadistic spectacle”.
AP reported that “the issue proved so sensitive and divisive that Friday’s voting was kept secret, a rarity in the Catalan legislature.
“Some lawmakers covered their hands with newspapers as they pushed electronic voting buttons at their desks.”
Some in the pro bull fighting community have said that it’s just a way of Catalonia distancing itself even more Spain; it has its own language, culture and substantial regional autonomy.
The motivation doesn’t matter that much though, what’s important is that this could be real step forward for preventing cruelty to animals in Spain.
“The parliament has recognized that this is a subject that society is concerned about. Now for the hardest part, winning the legal battle,” said Proud under a banner reading THE MPs SAID YES on their website.
If Catalonia does ban bullfighting it will be the second Spanish region to do so after the Canary Islands in 1991.
Matadors were once great stars but its popularity has declined, and the only bull ring in Catalonia is in Barcelona.
It’s still big in Sevilla, Madrid and Pamplona, and some Catalonians are worried that it could hurt the tourist economy as well. What? The majority of people who come to Barcelona don’t do it for the bullfight, a spectacle which is pretty stomach churning.
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Image Credit: Cloudsoup
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