Big Mouth speaks out on 'bullfighting bull' and other animal issues.
Spaniards are animals to animals, brutal to beasts. That’s not in question. Puppies dumped in litter-bins, cats kicked, birds in tiny cages, dogs in collars with spikes on the inside: you’ve seen it yourself. What do you notice about the animal charities you hear of on the coast; Costa Animal Society, Nerja Donkey Sanctuary, Action for Animals? The names are all in English.
Okay, so most of the foreigners here are townies, and many of the Spanish, if not farmers, have farming in the family, so to speak. Of course farming communities are more prosaic than townies. When animals are you livelihood, rather than a cute fashion statement you’re bound to have a prosaic attitude: cats exist to catch vermin; dogs guard property; mules work the land; pigs provide meat. But that’s no excuse for cruelty.
Here in Andalucía recent history involves plenty of cruelty to humans. And what do you expect? When life is on a knife’s edge, people are starving and thugs from one side or another may attack you or your family with impunity, you think people will care about animals? Of course not. Being cruel becomes a way of showing how hard you are – and venting your rage on something that can’t fight back. This is the history is why there’s such an acceptance of cruelty now.
And then there is the bullfight.
The Bulletpoint Bullfight, (a guide) says it’s not for the squeamish, and to be prepared for blood. Bull’s blood, that is, from the attacks of horse-mounted lancers and from the barbed darts of the banderillos; also horse blood from the bull’s attacks on a blindfolded horse, and occasional goring of other horses; and finally the blood on the matador’s sword. It adds that a quick death is rare: “Be prepared to witness various failed attempts at killing the animal before it lies down.”
Someone in a bar here told me he didn’t like bullfighting, but, ‘I’m not going to shout that from the hilltops. After all,’ he added, ‘They can do what they like: it’s their country.’ Yeah. But it’s in our Europe, and it’s my home. Besides, as Saddam, Bush, and Mugabe have shown us, some things – like torture – are wrong wherever they happen, whether you do a bit of ‘extraordinary rendition’ (the euphemism for shipping people out to torture them abroad) or not. When the bad stuff happens, the world get’s worse if everyone looks away. So here I go, from the hilltops: Bullfighting is wrong.
The bullfight is a symbol of Spain, like flamenco and paella, sunburn and sangria. It is a symbol built of symbols: the costumes, courage, the choreographed dance with death, and the bloody trophies hacked from the bull’s carcass are all symbolic. But this stylish symbol of Spain
