The COVID-19 pandemic struck just as the bullfighting season would have begun in Spain, a country hit particularly hard by the crisis. While bullfighting diehards mourn that an industry could never survive an entire season without revenue,
animal welfare activists see this as a glimmer of hope for the innocent animals who are tortured and killed every year for human entertainment. The rapid and deadly spread of the coronavirus has completely changed our way of life, and some of those changes may even continue long after a vaccine is found.
In Spain, hopefully one of these permanent changes is that thousands of bulls a year be spared from gorey, senseless deaths.Sign on to demand that when Spain fully reopens, it does not revive the cruel tradition of bullfighting and that all bulls be granted safety on sanctuaries, ranches, or farms!A bullfight is a torture spectacle. Crowds of hundreds or thousands of spectators applaud and cheer as a matador taunts and aggravates a bull.
The entire goal is to keep the poor animal scared, angry, and disoriented to keep the entertainment factor high. After what feels like hours of panic, exhaustion, and terror for the poor animal, it is stabbed through the heart with a blade.
It's body is then dragged around the ring for the crowd's amusement, sometimes before it is even dead. Its body will then be butchered and sold off. Many matadors take trophies from the poor animal's body -- ears, tails, or horns are sliced off and paraded around.
But due to a nationwide lockdown, these events are
not being held.
Unfortunately, this isn't quite cause for celebration. Reports are coming from ranchers that have been slaughtering bulls that would have been making them a profit this season, but now serve no purpose in their greedy agendas.
One breeder allegedly slaughtered 400 bulls that could have instead gone to sanctuaries or farms throughout the EU.
There are at least 7,000 bulls that were destined for 2020's bullfighting season that need to be rescued before they meet the same fate.Sign the petition to demand that Spain use its nationwide lockdown and eventual reopening to purge the country of this outdated and bloody sport! Pass a ban to end bullfighting, and save the thousands of bulls that were once its participants!