Bullfighting

Looking at the programme for the feria of San Isidro in Madrid this month (bullfights are being held on 31 consecutive days), it may be hard to believe that there is any threat to the future of the spectacle — it is not a sport — of what in Spain is called la corrida (the running of the bulls). But its popularity has undeniably been declining in recent years, due to two factors: growing opposition, in the sometimes spurious name of animal welfare, and Spain’s economic crisis.

The decision taken in 2010 to ban bullfighting in Catalonia had considerably less to do with the welfare of bulls than with the Catalans’ wish to distance themselves from the rest of Spain and Spanish traditions. The reaction from the Madrid government was to transfer responsibility for bullfighting from the Interior Ministry to the Ministry of Culture, formally giving to la fiesta nacional the status of patrimonio cultural. Of course this did nothing to silence the animal rights opposition, including those British members of the acting profession who talk about the number of bulls which would be saved from slaughter if bullfighting was abolished, completely ignoring the fact that, without the corrida, this breed of bull would cease to exist. As a wild animal — perhaps the only one that can be relied on to charge on sight — it is far too dangerous to be bred only for meat and milk, and is not a good converter of grass into protein. The bull ranches would probably be turned over to flower and vegetable production under plastic.

In the past few years, it is the recession in Spain that has had the most serious effect on bullfighting. The annual number of corridas has fallen by almost 60 per cent since 2007; some city councils have withdrawn public funding due to budget cuts or the opposition of local mayors.