BULLFIGHTING, ART OR TORTURE?

By Yamid Rojas

A bullfight is defined as a party that is dealing with a number of bulls in a closed

square. But dealing in this case would struggle with the bull to death. Bullfighting is
defined as a science, and like any science, it has structures and rules, comments
and ways in which the race and bullfight should be done to accomplish its ultimate
goal: the death of the animal.

Many people think, so am I, that this practice that many call art, is only an act
inhuman to be rejected by society and therefore must be completely eliminated. I
don’t say this just to say it; I have reasons and motives for believing that
bullfighting should be banned in the country. First, the bullfight is not a sport or an
art, second, the bull feels pain during the run, third, bullfighting is not a tradition to
be pursued, and fourth, bullfighting is not a part of any religious culture as many
claim.

The meaning of sport is: "physical activity, carried out as a game or competition,
which involves training and practice that is governed by different rules.” I agree
with the above definition, but I don’t agree that bullfighting is a sport. First the bull
is under preparation in the bullpen, which are small rooms where the bull is gone
and there is barely space to fit standing, in these places the bulls are shaved and
their horns are filed down, which to me makes the competition unequal. For me it is
a sport as the two competitors are not equal, the bullfighter is in good condition, but
the bull is minimal with his senses, tired and prepared to make it less dangerous.

The bull as any other animal with central nervous system feel pain, the bull
obviously feel the sword, lance or the flags. In the bullfight the bull is not only the
sufferer, the horses receive the mounted bullfighter’s lunges and gored. The
veterinarian and vice president of the Association of Veterinarians Abolitionist of
bullfighting (AVAB), José Enrique Zaldívar, respects the results of laboratory od the
professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University Complutense of
Madrid Juan Carlos Llera del portal, which states that the thalamus (part of the
brain) of the bull is 20% more developed than that of other cattle, which causes
less pain, but Zaldívar deny some of the precepts that show his colleague.
"Obviously I cannot deny this assertion, its truth, but I can say that the thalamus is
not responsible for responding to pain. This structure processes the sensations
and impulses, but it is the cerebral cortex that decides the answer,” says Zaldivar.

Miguel Ibáñez ethologist believes that the psychiatric side also has a great
importance and rarely gives the role it should. "It is not about if it hurts or not hurts
the bull, or if it has another stimulus that exceed the pain," said Ibanez. "The real
issue is that few human beings enjoy the torture of another living being in order to
show their power over it, and that is called sadism."

Since when is a venerable tradition of violence and torture? That would be similar
to say that ancient traditions like female genital mutilation or slavery that currently
generate horror must be practiced only to preserve this tradition and even worse
for our enjoyment with the suffering of others. The explanation could be that the
bulls are animals, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t feel like a human feels.
Traditions grounded in violence and murders do nothing more that perpetuates
these behaviors as worthy of practice and tracing. This means that if we kill an
animal, why can we not also kill our enemy? For me, the traditions should be the
support and sustenance of what defines us.

On the other hand, think that bullfighting supports any religion is wrong. The church
on several occasions condemned the celebration of festivals in which animals are
tortured and murdered. Pope Pius V in 1567 condemned these shows bloody and
cruel, establishing penalty of excommunication for clerics, emperors, kings and
cardinals that would promote these events. In 1920 the Vatican Secretary of State,
Cardinal Gasparri said: "The Church continues to condemn loudly, as did Pope
Pius V, these bloody and shameful events.” John Paul II, making a study of the
Bible says "man, out of the hands of God, is solidarity with all living beings, as in
the psalms 103 and 104, where there is no distinction between men and animals”.
Then why some priests support bullfighting? The most reasonable answer would
be that it is for economic reasons.

For finishing I just can say that I’m proud that Since 1997 in Colombia, an anti-
bullfighting group called Movement anti bullfighting of Colombia, has been working
to raise awareness in society of the damage caused by the business of bullfighting,
making many social sectors reject outright the torture of bulls, which are shielded
by saying it is a tradition that is a sport or saying that the bull does not feel pain. I
invite all to reflect on this and to take the decision to respect animal life.

• http://www.ecoportal.net/content/view/full/15099
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfighting
• http://www.eurotopics.net/es/dienste/medienindex/media_articles/archiv_article/ARTICLE
19914-Should-bullfighting-be-banned
• http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/bull/fighting.html