Catalonia bans bullfighting

[Mowser]

What do you all think?

[El Cid]

It's just a political thing to try and show that they are a separate nation from the Spanish and can do things differently. I don't believe it has anything whatsoever to do with animal rights.

It could get overturned by the Spanish parliament though.

Sid

[julian]

correct, it´s all political, little to do with animal rights.
anyway,I see they want to ban it from 2012, just before "the end" .

[Mowser]

So what you're both saying is that it's just a load of Barcelona bull?

[Beachcomber]

There was some tree-hugger on the news saying that they wanted to protect the bulls but it is obvious that, in the future, there will be no bulls to protect. They aren't going to go to the expense of breeding them just so that they can gambol around a meadow for their entire lives.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of bull fighting its abolition will mean mass unemployment among those involved at a time when people are already losing their jobs or having their pay cut.

If they try to impose a similar ban in Andalucía it will be the final death knell for this already beleaguered government.

[patchdog]

I am glad they have banned bull fighting in Catalonia.

[hiker]

I think they had already practically banned it in Catalonia anyway.

There is only one bullring in operation in the whole province. It was as good as over anyway but it does send an important symbolic message.
I dont see the rest of Spain following suit anytime soon even if its just to give the finger to the Catalonians.

[julian]

"it is obvious that, in the future, there will be no bulls to protect. They aren't going to go to the expense of breeding them just so that they can gambol around a meadow for their entire lives."


don´t bulls play a fairly important part in making calves, which grow into cows and bulls?
or were bulls only invented for bullfighting?

[BENIDORM]

Political most probably, however it does raise awareness that it is really an out-dated form of 'sport', I've been to bullfights and I would certainly not agree with the argument that the bull is treated well and humanly killed.
However I can see both sides of the argument and can fully appreciate the implications of job loss etc., which makes me wonder why the French bullfighting method could not be adopted in Spain.I've also been to a French bullfight and there appeared to be much more skill used by the bullfighters and the bull lives to fight again.
Although I'm very much in favour of preserving history and culture, in my opinion it really is time to move on from bull-fighting, which without doubt I consider to be a savage form of animal cruelty .

Just my opinion..of course..

Regards,
Gordon

[El Cid]

don´t bulls play a fairly important part in making calves, which grow into cows and bulls?
or were bulls only invented for bullfighting?

Yes, these bulls were "invented" purely for bullfighting. There are carefully bred for exactly the right characteristics needed in a bullfight.

If bullfighting was banned across Spain and the rest of Europe then they would effectively become extinct as a breed as there would be no market for them.

Sid

[Julie]

I will be glad if the bull fighting was banned altogether, although it would be sad for the job loss, I don't see how people think theres anything brave about stabbing a bull half to death and then winding it up to chase them, normal farmers work with bulls daily and come to little harm.

I think that the younger generation and starting to be against it in general.

[julian]

well, if these bulls were invented only for bulfighting then it does´t really matter if those bulls become extinct, they are not part of nature.....as long as "normal, real" bulls are still around.

[El Cid]

The breed goes back a lot further than your"normal" bulls.

This makes interesting reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Fighting_Bull

When I said the breed might die out, of course it will probably stay alive and well in South America and Mexico where bullfighting is much more common than in Spain.

Sid

[frank]

I don't see how people think theres anything brave about stabbing a bull half to death and then winding it up to chase them, normal farmers work with bulls daily and come to little harm.
I think that the younger generation and starting to be against it in general.

I am neither for or against really, but as regards to being brave, you'd couldn't pay me enough to face a 500-700 kg fighting bull dressed in tights and armed with a big rag! A bull in the campo surrounded by cows is an entirely different animal to one in the ring. If a bull is ever rejected for not fighting, or is injured, the simply send in a few cows, and they all trot quietly out of the ring. The bull behaves completely differently. AFAIK, all farmers tend bulls on horseback, they certainly would not be wandering around them on foot.

[Devils Advocate]

you'd couldn't pay me enough to face a 500-700 kg fighting bull dressed in tights

I'd have a bloody good attempt at raising it though, would be well worth it

[Mowser]

frank wrote:you'd couldn't pay me enough to face a 500-700 kg fighting bull dressed in tights

Why would a fighting bull be dressed in tights?

[BENIDORM]

I think that they would need to be three-legged tights.....

Regards,
Gordon

[Julie]

I have never tended my bulls on horseback, but nor have I ever tried bleeding them nearly to death before I handle them.