A bullfighting festival has been cancelled in Spain following controversy over the names of two of bulls who were killed.
Bullfighting has stopped in many countries with people having long criticised the blood sport, but it remains legal in Spain, alongside other countries such as France, Portugal, Mexico, and Colombia.
For the first time in decades, Spanish bullfighting ground to a halt as a result of the ongoing pandemic, but it made a return in summer 2020 – something that sparked outrage at the time.
Now, a year on, one of the festivals has been stopped once again – but this time not because of COVID.
Ana González, the socialist mayor of Gijón, has called a halt to the bullfighting festival and accused it of ‘crossing various lines’ after two bulls killed this week were named Feminist and Nigerian.
Speaking to reporters, González said yesterday, August 18:
The bullfighting festival is over. They have crossed various lines […] A city that believes in equality between men and women, that believes in integration, that believes in open doors for everyone cannot allow these sorts of things to happen.
She added that she felt that bullfighting was being ‘used to display an ideology contrary to human rights’.
According to The Guardian, the Socialist party had already decided at its recent congress meeting that it was going to stop the festival as many people now oppose the annual event.
In 2018, Spain only hosted 1,521 bullfights, which was a historic minimum for the country, reported Forbes. On top of this, government figures found only 8% of the population attended a bullfighting spectacle that year.
As well as this, a national survey found that 65% of Spaniards had an interest of between 0 and 2 out of 10 in bullfighting.
In light of the decline in popularity, González announced that they would not extend the city’s contract with festival organisers, and wouldn’t lease Gijón’s bullring for the event.
Her decision comes despite the city financially gaining from the event. It’s thought Gijón will lose €50,000 (£43,000) in annual income having now cancelled the historic festival.
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Topics: Animals, Bullfighting, festival, News, Spain, World News
