by Amanda Ines

Created on: April 03, 2010   Last Updated: April 27, 2011

I want to start of by saying that I am NOT AT ALL in agreement with bull fighting and hope that one day it will eventually be phased out in just the same way as fox hunting, cock fighting and dog fighting were.  I feel that bull fighting is barbaric and indeed cruel and goes back to the days of the romans when they sat in arenas to watch gladiators fight lions, although in those days the lions seemed to have the better hand.

But in the meantime, as Spain is a little behind the times withsome other Western countries, here below are the reasons why some Spaniards continue to support bull fighting.

I have lived here in Spain for the last 28 years and much against my wishes eventually found myself viewing a bull fight which I didn’t want to see but all my Spanish friends convinced me that it was part of their tradition, it was part of Spain and that it was a major industry that kept a lot of people in employment and so I had to see it at least once. According to them, without the fighting bull of Spain there would be no bull fighters, sometimes called matadors, there would be no bull farms where many people are employed to look after the bulls and control their reproduction, no vets who are specialized in looking after the bulls and many other trades would fall into extinction if bull fighting were to cease. And apparently most important of all the fighting bull of Spain would cease to exist as there would no longer be any need for him as his meat is not the best for eating and so what other use would there be for him?

Apparently the life of a bull, until he enters a bull ring, is a very good life. He is born in open fields full of good grazing grass, he is allowed to stay with his mother for as long as he wants, he is looked after by a specialized vet who makes sure that he is want for nothing, that he is vaccinated against any diseases, that his grain intake is only of the best quality and that the amount be controlled so as to keep the animal in peak condition. All of this for four years because after that time is usually when the bull is ready to be chosen to enter an arena and face a matador who after about half an hour of stabbing him on the top of his back with long spikes will eventually end up killing him with a long sword driven right through his spine until it reaches the heart.

But despite all these claims, obviously from the people that are involved in this business, that bull fighting should be allowed to continue, after seeing a bull

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