Should Bullfights Continue To Be Allowed Today?

Should Bullfights Continue
to Be Allowed Today?

There have always been debates about whether rituals with animals should be allowed nowadays and it is a difficult question because there are many different opinions about it and people do not always agree with each other. Bartle Phil argues that “The simplest definition of culture is that it is composed of everything symbolic that we learn”. Itis what we learn from our parents or grandparents. People have always given a big value to culture and traditions and for that reason it is symbolic. It is passed from generation to generation, but it is up to the new generations if they want to follow it or not. Culture is important but not all traditions are completely right, as for example bullfighting. I myself attended just one bullfight inmy life, and that was only to get a sense of the bull's suffering. Bullfighting is cruel, against animal welfare, and day by day there are less people in favor of bullfighting which make me think that it should not be allowed nowadays.

People should respect culture because it is what we are, but not all traditions are accepted for everybody because of the cruel treatment on animals, as forexample bullfighting. During the fight, they exhaust and frustrate them by running in circles and tricking them to collision. Afterwards, they throw lances into the bulls´ back and neck muscles to weaken them, and finally, the toreros try to kill them with their sword. According to WSPA, the weapons that toreros use are designed to cause intense pain and blood loss to weaken the animal. All thesemethods are cruel and inhumane. Do they deserve that? Just for entertainment? Traditional practices with animals are not appropriate and maybe people should do something in order to change their minds about these popular activities which could be beginning with education. Gabriela Garza Muñoz, who is education and media coordinator, would support that education will achieve an appropriateknowledge, a change in their attitude and they will see things in a different way in order to respect each other and nature. Even if one believes that bullfighting is tradition or culture, this shouldn´t justify cruelty to animals: cruelty is cruelty no matter where in the world it happens as Bullfighting Free – Europe states” Cruelty against animals has no place in a modern society.”


Animals havealso the right to life and bullfighting is a violation against animal welfare. There are illegal practices on bulls such as hitting and spearing the animals or a technique called “afeitado” which consists in shaving the bulls’ horns by sawing off a few a few inches which according to Isabel Gonzales are “unethical [and they] also contradicts the principles of respect for all living creatures, abasic expectation in a democratic and modern Europe.” However, if society uses them as food, one could consider that there, there is some justification because one needs to feed one selves in order to survive. Nevertheless, there is a big difference between killing for meat and killing for fun. The IMAB (International Movement Against Bullfighting) asserts that “The truth is if a creature suffersthen there can be no moral justification […] All animals are sentient beings that experience joy, happiness, fear and pain, in the same way that human beings do.” Therefore, when people watch on the TV that an animal has been maltreated and killed, they should think the same way as it would happen to a person. People should put themselves in the position of these animals and think how it would belike.

Nowadays, day by day there are more people against bullfighting. In the past, most of the people were in favor of it because it was tradition and it was the proud of these countries. But today a lot of people consider it a torture and even though it is a tradition they prefer banning it because they are against cruelty. According to an opinion poll made by the WSPA organization, the...