Bullfighting

It is odd that in this day and age people can still visit places like Spain and sit in the stands, watching this cruel "sport". This cruel act makes me absolutely disgusted to be human. Bullfighting is barbaric and should have been banned long ago, as bear-baiting was. It is difficult to understand how crowds of people will pay money and take pleasure in watching one lone creature, who has never done them any harm, getting hacked to death. How can anyone with an ounce of compassion cheer as a banderilla or lance is thrust into the animal’s pain-racked body? Many tourists who visit Spain feel the need to see this bullfighting, as is it supposedly a large spectacle there that has been going on for decades. However, after witnessing the sheer horror of this sickening slaughter, only the most hardened people would consider a second visit to the bullring.

Besides the obvious cruelty of this show, there are several days of torture that many views don't know about. This is to get the bull ready for his death. So while people may thing that the matador is very brave by getting in the ring with a bull, I would argue that almost anyone can survive in a ring with an exhausted, disoriented, and pain-stricken bull. This is not an act of bravery but one of a coward. The bull is not an aggressive animal, and the reason he is angry and attempts to charge at the matador in the bullring is because he has been horrendously abused for the previous two days. What spectators see is not a normal, healthy bull, but a weakened, half-blinded and mentally destroyed version, whose chances of harming his tormentors is extremely low.




The bull has wet newspapers stuffed into his ears; vaseline is rubbed into his eyes to blur his vision; cotton is stuffed up his nostrils to cut off his respiration and a needle is stuck into his genitals. Also, a strong caustic solution is rubbed onto his legs which throws him off balance. This also keeps him from lying down on the ground. In addition to this, drugs are administered to pep him up or slow him down, and strong laxatives are added to his feed to further incapacitate him. He is kept in a dark box for a couple of days before he faces the ring: the purpose of this is to disorientate him. When he is let out of the box, he runs desperately towards the light at the end of the tunnel. He thinks that at last his suffering is over and he is being set free — instead, he runs into the bullring to face his killers and a jeering mob. Upon entering the ring, bulls have been known to collapse from exhaustion from their pre-fight ordeal, and in turn have been dragged to their feet by the bullfighter’s assistants.



Bullfighting consists of three acts. It begins with the bull facing the picadors (men on horseback, whose purpose it is to exhaust the bull. They cut into his neck muscles with a  weapon about 6-8 inches long, and 2 inches thick. Once it is thrust into the bull it is twisted round and a large, gaping wound appears.) The bull then starts bleeding to death. Following the picadors are the assistant matadors that get to work with the banderillas (sharp, harpoon-like barbed instruments). These are plunged into the bull’s body, and he may also be taunted by capes. The final act (and perhaps the most gruesome) is performed by the matador himself and lasts about six minutes. The matador is supposed to sever the artery near the heart with his sword. By this time, the bull’s lungs and heart will be punctured and he always vomits blood. Miraculously, he sometimes attempts to rise again, and gets up on his knees, only to receive further mutilation at the hands of his tormentors. Even then, he is not allowed a little dignity to leave this world in peace; his ears and tail are cut off (often when he is fully conscious), and his broken, bleeding body is dragged around the ring by mules. Not content with his suffering, which must be too horrible to describe by words, the crowds boo and jeer him. They even throw empty beer cans at him. His body is then taken away to be skinned, and even then he may not be dead when this happens.



This is a revolting act that should put anyone who knowingly puts up with it (including anyone who is aware but not doing anything about it) to shame. I can't believe something like this exists, and is allowed to continue by so many people. This is merciless torture of an innocent animal for enjoyment, and if that weren't enough, it is a hoax as the bull is not given a fighting chance. The world can imagine what would happen to a man if he were really left alone in the ring with an animal of this size, defenceless like the bull is. This would be a completely different story. Our weapons give us strength. If we were half as strong as the animals we slaughter we would not be facing the immoral and disgusting problems we face today. Man simply cannot accept defeat.