Don’t Poke the Bull
When I was a kid, I loved watching Looney Tunes cartoons. One of my favorites was ‘Bully for Bugs,’ which finds Bugs Bunny inadvertently ending up in a bullfighting ring on his way to a carrot festival. While asking the matador for directions, Bugs is butted by Toro the Bull and the fight is on.
Donning the attire of a matador, Bugs tricks the bull into charging into an anvil hidden behind his cape. After several back-and-forth rounds, Bugs prevails in the duel by setting up a Rube Goldberg–esque contraption to blow up Toro with a barrel of TNT.
It’s hilarious because it’s a cartoon. Actual bullfighting, however, is a much grimmer prospect.
Bullfighting has long been a tradition and a pastime in Spain and many Latin American nations, dating back to Roman times. In fact, the sounds of the crowd and the bull featured in ‘Bully for Bugs’ were recorded from a bullfighting crowd in Barcelona, Spain.
A bullfight consists of three stages. First, picadors, or horseback riders, stab the bull with lances, aiming for the neck. Next, banderilleros jab banderillas, or barbed sticks, into the bull’s shoulders. Finally, the matador enters the ring alone and uses a red cape to lure in the bull so he can kill it with a sword.
While steeped with tradition, bullfighting has obviously been met with harsh criticism for animal cruelty. Some animal rights groups claim approximately 180,000 bulls are killed every year worldwide in bullfights.
Portugal, however, developed a bloodless form of bullfighting. Started by dairy farmers, this version features bullfighters called cavaleiros, who use velcro-tipped banderillas and a short spear-shaped tool that attaches to a velcro pad on the bull’s back. Because the bulls are not harmed, it has become popular in California, where traditional bullfighting has been banned since 1957.
Following suit, in 2022, a judge in Mexico City banned bullfighting, resulting in the closure of an arena that was billed as the world’s largest bullfighting ring. The judge ruled that bullfighting violated the city’s residents’ rights to a healthy environment free from violence.
Supporters of the tradition claimed the ruling would deal a huge economic blow to the city. The National Association of Breeders of Fighting Bulls in Mexico claimed bullfighting generates 80,000 direct jobs, and 146,000 indirect jobs across the country and generates approximately $400 million a year. So, in 2023, without explanation, Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the ban and allowed bullfighting once again.
So, legislators in Mexico City tried to broker a compromise between the two opposing sides by only allowing the Portuguese bloodless version of bullfighting in the nation’s capital. Dubbed “bullfighting without violence,” the legislation was approved by a staggering 61-1 vote. The measure prohibits the killing of bulls and the use of sharp objects used to injure them. It also sets time limits on how long bulls can be in the ring.
Animal rights activists and many lawmakers celebrated the bill’s passage. Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said the decision would turn the Mexican capital into a place “that respects the rights of animals.” Lawmaker Jesús Sesma acknowledged, however, that the decision would anger fans. “To those families who feel frustrated today, we’re here to say that no one lost their job,” he said. “There was a middle ground to continue with these bullfighting spectacles, but now without violence.”
He was right. After the bill passed, several bullfighting supporters and matadors tried to breach a police barricade at the local Congress.
I think it would have been poetic if police hid anvils behind the fences.
Reg P. Wydeven
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