ECUADOR: Ecuador looks to ban bullfighting

Record ID: 375072

  • Title: ECUADOR: Ecuador looks to ban bullfighting
  • Date: 12th February 2011
  • Summary: A MAN ON HORSEBACK STICKS THE BULL IN THE BACK AUDIENCE APPLAUDING THE BULLFIGHTER BULLFIGHTER STICKS LITTLE FLAGS INTO THE BULL BULLFIGHTER PUTS THE PALM OF HIS HAND ON THE BULLS HEAD, THE BULLS IS BLEEDING FROM THE PRODDING
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ecuador, Ecuador
  • Country: Ecuador
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA7B29TFORSN4UTT5NZ5PC5SD8S
  • Story Text: As Ecuador takes a step closer to banning popular bullfighting, cockfighting and other activities that result in the death of an animal through a referendum promoted by animal rights groups and the government of leftist President Rafael Correa, loyal fans at the capital city's Plaza de Toros cheer on bullfighters and revile retractors saying it is their right to continue with the fights.
    Thousand of bullfighting fans gathered recently in the plaza to see six bulls killed and shout their opposition to Correa and his referendum.
    The crowd cheers as one of the bulls, named Libertad, or Freedom, enters the ring and a series of performers begin the fight with a sequence of jabs and prodding into the animals back.
    With blood gushing from the bull, the air fills not only with cheers for the matador about to kill him but slogans against the leader of this small South American country who wants to outlaw such spectacles.
    Correa is moving to outlaw bullfighting; a step he says would be in keeping with the environmental protections enshrined in the constitution written by his supporters three years ago.
    But the crowd of thousands here in Quito, home to one of the biggest bullfighting festivals on the continent, are dead set against the voter referendum that the leader plans to hold later this year.
    "It is an animal. It isn't a being like a human. It doesn't have the same kind of reasoning, ethics or morals like people. It is not a human being, it is an animal which is designed, created, raised to fight in the ring. In this way… I think we are respecting nature," said bullfight commentator, Santiago Aguilar.
    Mixed with the traditional "ole!" shouted as matadors use capes and swords to wear down and kill bulls in these highly ritualized fights, the crowd expresses its ire at Correa for trying to end what they call an important cultural tradition.
    Bullfight supporters contend that it is part of their culture passed on from Spain which also gave the Andean nation its language, religion and other traditions.
    As steam huffs from the bull's nostrils in the cold mountain air, the fans chant slogans pledging bullfighting will continue, "with or without Correa".
    Finally, the beast receives the final thrust before yet another "artist" enters the ring to ultimately take its life.
    His struggle is over but the battle over bullfighting in Ecuador has just begun.
    The animal's carcass is taken to the other end of the plaza where butchers dismember it and separate the parts for consumption.
    Respect for nature is written into the 2008 constitution and Correa loyalists say this includes protecting animals.
    "We have a long fight ahead of us, which is that all animals have a decent life and of course a dignified death. This includes animals used for consumption," the director of animal rights group Ecuador Animal Protection, Elena Benalcazar said.
    But bullfighting is big business and the city generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue from Quito's nine-day "Fiesta Brava" bullfighting festival every December.
    Some animal rights activists say bullfighting is more about money than culture or tradition.
    "It refers to those who profit from the bullfights. We're talking about a very powerful group. We're talking about a minority that has tried to make us believe this is an art. They've tried to give us customs that aren't even ours. This comes from Spain and not even Spain wants it," Benalcazar said.
    Bullfighting -- an art to some, ritualized cruelty to others -- was made illegal in Spain's Catalonia region in 2010 after a push by animal rights groups.
    Activists are seeking more bans around the world and seem to be making headway here.
    The referendum would also end cockfighting, ban casinos and restructure the court system.
    It is mainly a proposal to make constitutional changes that Correa says will strengthen the justice system by reforming the way judges are selected, but which critics argue are really aimed at tightening his grip on power by dominating appointments to the bench.
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