Rob Colquhoun

Latest news from Spain- Bull Fighting

Have been to a couple of bullfights this last few days and they have been fairly dramatic! In one fight the fighter was whistled and heckled a lot- by the end the crowd were throwing their cushions at him as it took him 6 blows to kill the bull, who he originally injured too much to have a proper fight. In the fight on Sunday- One bull was injured and a substitution was called for- this is when they bring in the cows (vachas) to try and attract the bull out of the stadium. The only problem was the bull wasn’t interested! So after 25 minutes of classic entertainment of attempting to get him to leave they had to kill him and another bull was brought on instead. The whole format of bullfighting is classically ritualistic, involved a set liturgy of events whereby the bull is gradually injured more and more and his head is lowered by injuring his back. What the animal rights lobby forget above all is that it is the breeders themselves who keep up a good stock of bulls before sending a few to the ring. Banning the sport only destroys the incentive to keep bulls in the first place. Bullfighting is a great combination between art and sport (although it is not a sport) and the fighters are brave posers at heart.