One of the weakest defenses of any form of animal exploitation is that it is a tradition. This includes hunting, animal racing, cockfighting, rodeo, eating meat, you name it.
News out of Spain reminds us that "tradition" is insufficient reason to continue barbaric behavior:
According to an October Gallup survey, only 27% of Spaniards expressed an interest in bullfighting, with a whopping 72% declaring no interest whatsoever. Of course, calling this pastime "bullfighting" is a farce to begin with, but you can call it whatever you want, so long as it is "gone forever."Bullfighting was facing an uncertain future in Spain yesterday with the announcement that the last bullring in Barcelona is to close after failing to draw enough spectators.
The rising cost of mounting a spectacle that a growing number of Spaniards view as a cruel and unnecessary part of their culture has forced the promoters of the Monumental Plaza de Toros to cut their losses and look for alternatives uses for the ring.
The company which owns the bullring admitted that the falling number of spectators meant that it lost more than £16,000 each time it held a bullfight.
The closure next year of the last bullring in Catalonia's capital city follows that of two others in recent years - one of which is being transformed into a shopping centre designed by Lord Rogers of Riverside.
*snip*
The industry has been hardest hit in Catalonia, in part because of a growing animal rights movement that has sought to ban a sport it considers "a horrible cruelty".
Two years ago, Barcelona declared itself "an anti-bullfighting city" following a series of public protests and a petition of more than 250,000 Catalan names.
Another 38 Catalan municipalities have since followed suit and the Parliament has debated a Bill to extend existing animal cruelty laws to include bullfighting.
*snip*
The Spanish daily newspaper El Pais yesterday gave warning that as Barcelona usually provided the "yardstick" for all things cultural across Spain, the closure of its final bullring should be taken seriously.
It urged those interested in the corrida to "Run, run, before it is gone forever."
If bloodletting was a major factor in rodeos, you could be sure it wouldn't be supported in the U.S., but that tradition is more subtle in its cruelty, though no less worthy of a speedy end.
More on "bullfighting" from SHARK, including graphic videos depicting the inherent cruelty of this horrifying tradition.
Labels: bullfighting
