Bullfighting to Appear on Spanish TV Again

From the Telegraph...

State-financed broadcaster RTVE said it would screen a bullfight from the city of Valladolid on September 5, overturning a ban imposed under the previous socialist government.  

In 2006, guidelines prohibited the showing of live bullfights because the "violent images" were unsuitable to be broadcast between 6 and 8 pm, during hours when children were most likely to be watching.

The policy change comes under the new conservative Popular Party government of Mariano Rajoy which is widely seen as opposed to all attempts to curtail the national fiesta in Spain. 

The move immediately provoked anger from animal rights activists, who felt they were making headway against the spectacle after Catalonia banned bullfighting within its region last year on animal welfare grounds. 

"It is clearly a backward step for the welfare of animals in this country," said Silvia Barquero, spokesman for the animal defence lobby group

Spaniards Are Giving Up their Horses Due to Economic Conditions

.....and they are ending up in slaughterhouses or are being abandoned.

World Wildlife Fund Removes King Juan Carlos for Elephant Hunting

Good for them! What a hypocrite! It's not like Spain has enough problems now, it has to have an idiot king.

From EcoRazzi.....

King Juan Carlos may be the King of Spain, but he is no longer the honorary president of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Spain due to his hunting and killing of elephants in Botswana, Treehugger reports.

Four Paws Urges an End to Pamplona Bull Run

Unfortunately, though, it brings in the tourists.

Warning! Sad Story Ahead

This is such a sad story. A beagle rescued from a laboratory in Spain and brought to the Los Angeles has run off and his humans are trying to find him. :-(

Fallout Continues Over Juan Carlos' Elephant Hunting Trip

What an idiot. Read the full story on this NPR page...

As Spaniards grapple with severe austerity measures and 24 percent unemployment, their king is dealing with a different kind of pain — extreme embarrassment over public outrage upon his return from an elephant hunt in Africa that cost nearly $60,000, or more than twice the average salary in Spain. And the Spanish public only found out about the trip because he broke his hip — hence the recent surgery — and had to be airlifted home. The Royal Palace confirmed that this is the first time a Spanish king has ever said he's sorry — at least publicly — for anything. But it's not enough for Rafa Lucia, a social worker smoking in the rain outside a Madrid library. He's been jobless for months. The government cut his local school's budget by 30 percent. And the Royal Palace's budget? "They cut just 2 percent. And now this. It's like, OK, so the government doesn't cut [their budget], and now he's spending the money in Africa killing elephants," Lucia says. Adding Insult To Injury Spaniards can't decide which would be worse — whether their king might have spent public money on his jaunt to Botswana last week, or whether it was paid for by an Arab businessman courting favor, as some reports say. Either way, there are calls for the king's abdication.

King Juan Carlos, Honorary Head of World Wildlife Fund Spain, Caught in Elephant Hunt

D'oh! From the Wildlife Extra News....

April 2012. King Juan Carlos of Spain, Honorary President of WWF Spain, is recovering in hospital after breaking his hip in Botswana where he was on an elephant hunt. Apparently it isn't the first time the King has been shooting big game in Africa, or elsewhere (Apparently he killed a bear in Russia a few years ago too). Whilst not illegal, it shows a complete disregard for his 'subjects' and total contempt for his role as 'Honorary President of WWF Spain'.

Supporters Still Trying to Keep Bullfighting in Spain

I was disappointed that Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa was one of those that signed a petition to keep this cruel and unnecessary torture of animals around. I guess I won't be reading his books!

For the full story, go here to latino.foxnews.

Graphic Photo of Protest in Spain

It's a pretty powerful image.

Dutch Whale Denied Freedom; Must Go to Spanish Amusement Park

Unfortunate, but the court decided she would not survive being returned to the wild.

Here's an excerpt from the online Boston Globe...

Morgan, a 4-year-old killer whale, has lost her bid for freedom

Agriculture Secretary Henk Bleker ruled Wednesday that the orca, rescued last year ailing and emaciated from the Wadden Sea off the northern Dutch coast, should be transferred to an amusement park on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

A Dutch court had suspended the government's export permit after an animal rights coalition presented a plan to release her to the wild in stages. A judge ordered the coalition, the Agriculture Ministry and the Harderwijk Dolphinarium, which put her ondisplay after nursing her back to health, to review the scientific evidence and work out a solution.

Bleker said after hearing arguments from both sides that Morgan's chances of survival were too slim if she were freed.

"This feels like a defeat because an animal like this really belongs in the sea and not a zoo," Bleker said in a statement. "Morgan belongs in the wild, but not at all costs."

Last Bullfight Finally Held in Catalonia, Spain

Good.

Bull Gets Gored to Death in Spanish Festival

I've read some pretty disgusting stuff in writing this blog, but this just pisses me off. As a Portuguese-American, I hate bullfights...and they even have the stupid things in California.

Townspeople in Tordesillas spear a bull to death in some festival tradition dating back to medieval times. It's a "cultural asset." Disgusting.

Excerpted from the Montreal Gazette....

Lance-wielding Spanish townspeople speared a huge fighting bull to the death Tuesday, defying a lone protester who sprayed some of them with an irritant.

Hundreds of people, many on horseback, turned out for the combat with a 608-kilogram (1,338-pound) black bull named Afligido — Spanish for Sorrowful — in the centuries-old "Toro de la Vega" festival.

The massive beast charged through the fortified town of Tordesillas, central Spain, crossing a bridge over the River Duero and into a plain in a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages.

Before the lancing began, a female protester sprayed an irritant at some of those taking part before being taken away by police, a witness to the event said.

Royal Decree Issued in Spain Over Animal Welfare

Interesting! Effective? Who knows?

Here's an excerpt from Farmers Weekly Interactive....

The Spanish government has taken the unusual step of issuing a royal decree to compel farmers to report on what action they are taking to comply with the 2012 conventional cage-ban and if they require any government assistance.

In the decree the Spanish Government outlines a training and publicity initiatives to promote new methods of production to farmers and the public as well as a timeline to receive and investigate plans for conversion as well as committing €300m in loans for farmers to convert to enriched facilities.

But some industry experts doubt Spain, a nation which has an unemployment rate above 20% and a stagnant economy, can afford to pay out €300m to farmers. Others have suggested that the amount of money allocated would only be enough to assist half the Spanish egg industry to convert.

Spanish Tradition Under Threat by Activists

This sounds awful. Go to AFP for the full story....

Every year on the night of January 16, the eve of Saint Anthony's day, the patron saint of animals, the paved streets of the small town of 600 people are transformed into a sort of racetrack in which the fences are burning logs.

"It's a festival in which the horses are sanctified by the flames, they are liberated from all their ills," said Quique, 30, who takes part in the festival every year.

Tree branches for the fires are collected for weeks ahead of the festival. The flames are regularly doused with water to produce columns of smoke intended to purify the animals.

The tradition is under threat from animal rights groups, who say the horses suffer as they leap over the flames.

But the residents of San Bartolome de Pinares fiercely defend the festival, arguing that if the horses were really suffering they would not go near the flames.

"We don't force them," Quique said.

Catalonia is First Region to Ban Bullfighting

Yay! I hope it withstands any challenges. This is really big news.

The independence-minded region of Catalonia on Wednesday became the first on the Spanish mainland to outlaw bullfighting, a move some say is as much about nationalist politics as animal rights.

Lawmakers in Catalonia's regional parliament approved the controversial ban, 68-55, with nine abstentions, after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for preserving tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty. The ban will take effect in the region, of which Barcelona is the capital, in 2012.

New Film About Bullfighting Stars Adrian Brody

Too bad. I really liked Adrian Brody, but here he is showing up in a movie about a Spanish bullfighter. To the film's credit, though, it did spend a lot of money to avoid using real bulls.

Big Ol' Protest In Madrid Against Bullfighting

Thousands marched on Madrid to protest bullfighting and push for a ban.

I wish the Portuguese were this passionate about protesting bullfighting.

Campaign Launched to End Bullfighting in Madrid

It's been banned in Catalonia. Now activists are trying for the big time...the regional government of Madrid. That will be even tougher.

Spanish Woman Leave $3M Euros to Save Lynx

Specifically, the near-extinct Iberian Lynx. I know people will whine about why she didn't leave the money to human causes, but I'm proud that she did it. I'm especially proud that she is Spanish.

I get so tired of people calling for money to human charities. Humans control the frigging WORLD. They run the governments, they run businesses, they run everything. And they still don't have enough money! That's a problem with humans as a species, not with specific people like this woman. They are a tiny minority. Stop blaming general human selfishness on people like her.

Grrrrrr!!!!

Irish Travel Agency Removes Matador from Advertising

The move was in response from pressure from an animal rights group. It's a small step, but every one counts.

From the Irish Times...

THE MATADOR – one of the most abiding and traditional images of Spain – has been removed from advertising by a leading Irish travel company following a protest by animal rights activists.

The Travel Department confirmed that it had used a photograph of a bullfighter in a newspaper advertisement for a holiday in Spain. The ad was seen by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports which contacted the company to object and the company agreed to withdraw the image from its marketing material.

A spokesman for the tour operator said that the image was “part of a library of stock images” of Spain that were used for print and online media advertising. He said it had not “consciously” used “the iconic image” and stressed that visits to bullfights were not included in its itineraries.