In little under three years, there has been a sharp drop in the number of Spaniards supporting the ancient but brutal spectacle.
The figure is mirrored by attendances crashing by more than a half in less than a decade.
According to a new survey of Spanish adults, only 19 per cent of 16 to 65 year olds now back bullfighting compared to almost one in three in 2013.
The way that young Spaniards are turning their back on the "fiesta" is obvious from the answers given to the Ipsos MORI poll, where only seven per cent of 16 to 24 year olds said they supported it. Among the 16 to 34 age group, there was only 10 per cent support.
Spain's dwindling love for a Sunday afternoon event that was one of its big tourist attractions during the 1960s leaves questions about its future and whether its politicians will one day send it the same way as fox hunting in Britain.
Elections took place in Spain last month but, with no party getting a working majority, a re-run could take place in the spring with politicians well aware of the anti-bullfighting poll findings that show there is only 19 per cent support compared to 58 per cent opposition.
The poll was conducted for World Animal Protection, a welfare charity that recently delivered a 140,000 strong petition to a Spanish mayor whose city stages one of the most infamous bull events - Medinaceli's Toro de Fuego, where animals have blazing balls of fire lit on their horns.
World Animal Protection, formerly WSPA, has campaigned for an end to bullfighting in Spain, Colombia and Mexico since its founding in 1981 and its regional director Ruud Tombrock said: "Outdated traditions of bullfighting and other cruelty towards animals in the name of culture are no excuse for the torture that it involves. And the torture of animals should have no place anywhere in the world, least of all in a modern, progressive nation like Spain.
"Forward-looking Spanish politicians should seize this moment and what may well be the popular appeal of taking a stand on this issue.
"This is why we are calling on them to make a resolution that 2016 will be the last year these despicable traditions will take place. All political parties should make a new pledge to end the cruelty - not just bullfighting but of all the other fiestas and festivals where animals are treated cruelly, or terrified, taunted and tortured.
"This includes the Toro de la Vega, where mounted horsemen armed with steel tipped lances pursue a bull to its death, and the Toro de Fuego, where a tethered bull has flammable material tied to its horns which are then ignited."
World Animal Protection is also calling for an end to the use of precious public funds to support fiestas which, it says, "masquerade as cultural assets but which in reality are heartless, dying traditions which should rightly fade into history."
At Spain's "Torture is not Culture" coalition, its president says bullfighting is suffering the same fate as animals that enter the ring.
"Bullfighting is mortally wounded in Spain and we will see it collapse in the next 5 coming years." said Marta Esteban.
"Attendance has dropped 54 per cent in the last seven years and only survives due to public subsidies which we are also managing to gradually remove as more political parties listen and respond to our demands."
No comments:
Post a Comment