Spain’s Catalonia on verge of banning bullfighting
Spanish matador Julio Aparicio performs a muleta on a Nunez del Cuvillo bull, on May 20, 2010 in Nimes, during the Nimes Feria Bullfighting Festival (Feria de la Pentecote), the day before he was gored in the throat and left in critical condition.
Photograph by: Pascal Guyot, AFP/Getty Images
MADRID – Bullfighting in Spain could suffer its biggest setback to date on Wednesday when the local parliament in Catalonia votes on whether to ban the practice in the separatist-minded northeastern region.
The assembly is scheduled to vote on the issue on Wednesday morning after animal rights activists campaigning under the platform “Prou!” or “Enough!” in the Catalan language, collected 180,000 signatures in Catalonia on a petition calling for the motion to be debated and voted on by the assembly.
The most recent indications are that a majority of the 135 lawmakers in the regional assembly are in favour of the motion to tighten Catalonia’s animal protection law to remove an exception for bullfights from a ban on the killing or mistreating animals in shows.