FOUR PAWS congratulates Catalonian parliament for ending cruel Bullfighting!
Animal lovers all over the world celebrate the end of bullfighting in Catalonia!
On Wednesday 28th July 2010, Catalonia's parliament abolished bullfighting throughout the autonomous region in north-eastern Spain. The final votes were as follows - 68 in favour, 55 against, and the rest were abstentions. The campaign against what many see as a cruel and unnecessary part of Spanish culture has intensified in recent years, with the people of Catalonia at the forefront of the movement.
 Following a series of public protests and a petition with over 180,000 names, Barcelona declared itself “an anti-bullfighting city”. Tens of thousands of bulls are maimed, tortured and killed in the name of entertainment each year.
We commend the Catalonian government for their actions, and urge the remaining regions in Spain to ban this cruel 'sport'.
FOUR PAWS Head of Programmes UK, Angelique Davies, said: “We are very happy about the decision the Catalonian parliament has made. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of ending this cruel and barbaric spectacle and mirrors the feelings of the Spanish people as a whole- seventy percent of Spaniards are against bullfighting. We would encourage other regional governments to follow Catalonia’s lead in ending such grotesque scenes of animal cruelty. We hope that the Catalonian decision is a trigger for the national Spanish government to ban bullfights nationwide.”
Bullfighting is considered by some to be a spectacle, a sport and an 'art'. The cruel blood sport causes immense suffering and pain, and in most cases death, to an animal. 3,200 bullfights and bullfighting festivals happen in Spain every year. 13,300 bulls are killed in official bullfights (the equivalent of 36 bulls every day). The total number killed is estimated to be three times as high.
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