During the quarantine, most of the country's fairs were canceled and the bullfighting sector (which already subsisted, largely thanks to public money), demands new budgetary allocations to stay afloat, in a cruel and anachronistic business doomed to the bankruptcy.
"We do not want a public euro to go to subsidize animal abuse, and that is why we will meet in this action in favor of life, as has already been done recently in Pamplona and Madrid with wide repercussions in national and foreign media" , assures Cristina Ibañez , coordinator of AnimaNaturalis in Valencia.
Since Animanaturalis is promoting an initiative where more than 173,000 people have already written to the Minister of Culture, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribe, not to allocate aid to the bullfighting sector. "The bullfighting people are asking for new financial subsidies to support their practices, while these days, images of bullfighters Juan José Padilla, Morante de la Puebla and Alberto López Simón, caught in an alleged illegal cockfight, with indications evident of numerous infractions and crimes such as not having permission to do so, presence of minors, illegal gambling, consumption of alcohol and tobacco, breach of maximum capacity, safety distances, or the use of masks, etc ” , explains Cristina Ibañez ."We believe that the government should prioritize financial aid in health, vulnerable families, R&D and aid to companies that are experiencing great difficulties," he adds.
Tradition of a minority
According to the latest survey of "Cultural Habits and Practices 2018-2019" by the Ministry of Culture, spectators in the bullrings have fallen by 15% in the last four years, in which attendance at bullfighting shows has dropped by 554,000 people . Only 8% of the population witnessed a bullfighting celebration (only 6% in places, the rest on TV). With the singularity that almost 20% of the attendees did NOT pay their entrance, which shows the scale of the aid.
Contrary to what has always been spread, bullfighting is not the second mass spectacle in our country, not even the third nor the fourth, but the tenth, according to data from the Ministry of Culture. We Spaniards prefer football, cinema, monuments, museums, concerts, exhibitions or art galleries, rather than attending a bullfight.
Excessive spending
AnimaNaturalis ensures that the bullfighting sector receives every year budget items of thousands of euros to finance bullfighting activities from town halls, councils, autonomies and also from the Government of Spain, to subsidize clubs, associations, schools and celebrations of the bullfighting field.
"We think that the government should not only ignore these demands, but should rethink the periodic aid that is allocated to bullfighting from the different administrations and derive them where it is most necessary". AnimaNaturalis details that these items can easily reach hundreds of thousands of euros per year and even reach millionaire amounts. It has also estimated that only about thirty municipalities in Catalonia allocate 1 million euros of public money for the realization of bolted bulls, bulls ensogados and confinements.
The Provincial Council of València will allocate 170,000 euros in aid to cattle ranches of fighting cattle to face the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Provincial Council of Badajoz plans to allocate this year, to the Bullfighting School, the amount of 950,350 euros and in the Castellón there is a call for subsidies for bullfighting groups to promote traditional festivities with an economic allocation of 90,000 euros for this 2020 .
The Valencian Community has the sad record of being the autonomy with the most bullfighting celebrations, some 9,000 celebrations in which public money abounds and sustains these practices.AnimaNaturalis clarifies that the bulk of budget items and subsidies is incalculable due to the lack of transparency , especially on the part of the city councils, which are not in the habit of publishing their detailed party budgets. "The resources of the public administration should not be used to promote and contract shows based on animal abuse and mistreatment, even less in the coming months, in which all the effort and public support will be needed for different emergencies", clarifies Cristina Ibañez.
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