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Jubilation as Catalonia lands a death strike on bullfighting

0 Comments | Herald, The; Glasgow (UK), Jul 29, 2010 | by MARTIN WILLIAMS

SPAIN’s Catalonia region made history yesterday by outlawing bullfighting for the first time on the country’s mainland.

After nearly two years of debate, Catalonia’s parliament voted to give a striking blow to advocates of the most emblematic and controversial Spanish tradition.

Cheers broke out in the local 135-seat legislature after the speaker announced the ban had passed by a vote of 68 to 55.

The ban in the wealthy seaside region centring on Barcelona, Spain’s second city, will take effect in 2012.

Campaigners said it was a historic victory and claimed it signalled the beginning of the end of Spain’s “la fiesta nacional”.

The anti-bullfighting group Prou, which triggered the vote with a petition containing 180,000 signatures calling for a ban, said: “The suffering of animals in the Catalan bullrings has been abolished once and for all. It has created a precedent we hope will be replicated by other democratic parliaments internationally.”

Josep Rull, member of parliament for the Catalonian nationalist party (CiU) said: “There are some traditions that can’t remain frozen in time as society changes. We don’t have to ban everything, but the most degrading things should be banned.”

Advocates for Animals, the Scottish animal protection charity, said Scotland and Britain could follow the example of Catalonia and end inhumane so-called traditions such as shooting animals for sport.

“Bullfighting is obviously barbaric because the animal is tortured before it is killed, but a lot of people find the shooting of animals for sport is unjustified and unpalatable,” said a charity spokesman.

“This is a landmark vote, which will go down in the international history books as a great success for animal welfare. Catalonian politicians have seized the opportunity to progress and modernise their legislation to reflect the compassionate views of their citizens.”

One of the first voices raised against yesterday’s ban was that of Jose Montilla, the head of the Catalan regional government.

He said: “I voted against the prohibition because I believe in freedom
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