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Home / New images of fire bulls in Catalonia and Valencia, Spain

New images of fire bulls in Catalonia and Valencia, Spain

29-06-2022

CAS International and AnimaNaturalis have recently filmed several cruel fire bull festivals in Catalonia and Valencia. In the past two years, there were fewer bull festivals in Spain because of the measures against Covid-19. However, this year the bull festivals return without restrictions. Therefore, we can make new images of these events and show them to the world. Sign the petition so we can put an end to cruel bull fiestas.

vuurstieren

Nieuwe beelden van vuurstieren in Catalonië en Valencia, Spanje | Foto: CAS International/AnimaNaturalis

Catalonia

The season of bull festivals has started in Catalonia. More than 450 cruel events are planned this year, of which 100 are fiestas with fire bulls.

CAS International and AnimaNaturalis have recently filmed fire bulls in three Catalan municipalities: L’Ampolla, Lligallo del Gánguil and Sant Jaume d’Enveja. We succeeded in taking pictures, which is a difficult task. We were attacked earlier during filming by fans of the bull festivities.

Flares

During the filming, we saw several abuses. For example, several bulls got entangled in ropes, causing them to fall. During another case, one of the fireballs fell over, making direct contact with the skin on the bulls’ back. In Lligallo de Gánguil, one of the bulls rammed a wooden structure, causing planks to fall on him. In the latter town, the organisers used fireworks and flares when cattle were still locked up in the bullring. See images from L’Ampolla below.

A bill is currently being debated in the Catalan Parliament, which aims to put an end to the three most cruel bullfights. The majority of Catalans are against cruel events involving animals. It is crucial that we bring images of the most cruel bull fiestas to the public right now. Several Spanish media have already paid attention to it.

Catalonia is step away from banning the three most cruel bull festivals

In addition, together with AnimaNaturalis, we have researched the subsidies given by municipalities for bull festivals. We now know that they pump 850,000 euros into these events. This allows them to offer part of the tickets for the bullfights for free.

Castellón

On 18 June, we filmed a fire bull in Vinarós, Castellón (Valencia). The bullring was practically empty, and the event was largely made possible by municipal subsidies.

Valencia has the highest number of bull festivals in Spain. This year, the state may reach the number of 10,000 events, which would be a record. Twenty per cent of these bull festivals have fire bulls. In Castellón, the municipalities spend about 100,000 euros on subsidies for this kind of fiesta.

More than 18,000 cruel bull festivals take place in Spain every year. The fire bull is mainly found in the states of Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon. Every year, about 2,500 fire bulls are used for cruel events.

CAS International and AnimaNaturalis are currently conducting the largest investigation ever into the abuses that take place at various bull festivals in Spain. Both organisations want to bring this animal suffering to light, not only in Spain, but also abroad. The majority of Spaniards are against these kinds of events with bulls.

Subsidies

These kinds of bull festivals receive municipal, regional and national subsidies. The breeding of the bulls is partly financed by agricultural subsidies from the European Union. It is estimated that in Spain a total of 629 million euros of subsidy money ends up in bullfighting and festivals with bulls. 130 million comes from agricultural subsidies from the European Union.

Support our campaign and sign our petition so we can put an end to cruel bullfighting in Spain!

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