The anti-bullfighting organization ANIMAL today expressed satisfaction with the decision of the Braga court not to authorise a bullfight in Viana do Castelo and that it hopes 2016 will see an end to the industry in Portugal.
Last week’s bullfight in Albufeira was televised but few watched the event, preferring to tune in to rolling news on RTP’s Telejournal.
"ANIMAL will ensure that 2016 will be the year of the end to the bullfighting industry in Portugal, as 2015 will be for the rest of the world," according to an upbeat statement from the organisation.
"The national and international political lobbying work is starting to pay off in all those countries where bullfighting activity still exists."
The Administrative and Fiscal Court of Braga declared that the reasons offered in support of a plan by the bullfighting fraternity to hold the event on private land were "totally unfounded" and that no bullfighting could be held.
The Vice President of ANIMAL stated that the organisation’s members viewed the court decision with a sense of 'justice done' but that they are aware that the reasons were not moral ones but rather were based on predicted breaches to land use on land classified as ‘ecological’ (REN) and contraventions to the local PDM land use rules.
ANIMAL has been to court before in attempts to stop bullfighting in the municipality, but until this year the court has always ruled in favor of bullfighting.
In Albufeira the summer bullfight was live on RTP but the TV station might as well not have bothered as last Friday’s TV audience was the lowest of the five bullfights covered by the station this season.
The audience numbers showed that the Albufeira event had an average national audience of about 342,000 viewers and an average share of that evening’s total TV audience of 11.5%. By comparison a good football match will get between 65% and 85% of a much larger TV viewing audience.
The bullfighting coverage came in at 6th place on the RTP schedule for Friday with first place going to Telejornal with a 20.4% audience share.
The bullfight on July 2nd also was covered by the station and had 458,000 viewers.
Viewing figures have gone downhill since then and serious doubts have been raised as to whether this controversial minority sport should have national coverage at a time generally when animal rights and humane legislation is edging the industry towards a total ban.
The Algarve’s anti-bullfighting protestors report that current practice leaves many bulls suffering unnecessarily after the fight with infections developing before they are transported to slaughter houses often many kilometres away, sometimes 24 or 48 hours after the bullfight has ended.
Bullfighting was banned in the Catalonia region of Spain in 2011 with no further bullfights held since January 1st 2012. Even though the death of the bull isn't shown in Portugal, the bulls are nearly always killed. Each year there are about 300 fights and around 2,500 bulls are killed in Portugal.
Bullfights are seen by many as an important part of Portugal's tradition and history. Rather than a sport, bullfighting is seen as an art form and a cultural event, like a play or an opera.
Those who support the sport talk of the skill and agility that is displayed by those involved, especially the matadors and the cavaleiros.
Bullfighting is an established part of Portuguese and Spanish culture and supporters say that others should try to understand and respect this.
BULLFIGHTING IN PORTUGAL
Geographic distribution
Some southern and central regions of Portugal, such as Ribatejo Provincibatejo and parts of the Alentejo, as well as Terceira Island in the Azores, are traditionally more interested in the corrida de touros.
In Portugal's northern regions, bullfighting has a much lower presence, excepting for Póvoa de Varzim, and is entirely absent from most Azorean islands and from Madeirado Castelo imposed a prohibition city.
The public television station RTP usually shows bullfights in prime-time. This has been notoriously criticized by left-wing parties who have tried to ban the programme and, in another instance, rating the show to an adults-only classification
Main figures
CAVALEIROS
A horseman or woman (rider), dressed in traditional 18th century costumes fights the bull from horseback. The horses are Portuguese Lusitanos, specially trained for the fights. These horses are usually skilled in dressage and may exhibit their art in the arena. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four bandarilhas (small javelins) in the back of the bull. In the past, horseback bullfighters were often members of old aristocratic families. The horsewomen (cavaleiras) are a pioneer and unique feature of the Portuguese bullfighting. Ana Batista, Sónia Matias, Ana Rita and Joana Andrade are among the first and most renowned cavaleiras of Portugal.
FORCADOS
The forcados are a group of eight men who challenge the bull directly, without any protection or weapon of defense. The front man provokes the bull into a charge to perform a pega de cara or pega de caras (face catch). The front man secures the animal's head and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued. Forcados were usually people from lower classes who, to this day, practice their art through amateur associations. In California, these men sometimes take the humorous nickname of 'Suicide Squad'.
MATADORES
Same as the Spanish matadores, but they do not kill the bull in the end. WWE's 'Los Matadores' are a prime example.
BANDARILHEOROS
These men are the matador's and/or cavaleiro's helpers in the arena. They are skillful and wear the suit of light as the matador, except not with the gold sequins. While in the arena, they are holding the gold/pink cape to distract or position the bull.
STAGES
Most Portuguese bullfights (corridas de touros) are held in two phases: the spectacle of the cavaleiro, followed by the pega. In Portugal, the main stars of bullfighting are the cavaleiros, as opposed to Spain, where the matadores are the most prominent bullfighters. Nevertheless, bullfights with matadores are frequent, notably with Portuguese matadores who practice their trade in Spain and who, when in Portugal, replace the sword in their final strike with a bandarilha. Examples of famous Portuguese matadores are Vítor Mendes and Pedrito de Portugal.
During the cavaleiro, a horseman on a Portuguese Lusitano horse (specially trained for the fights) fights the bull from horseback. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four bandeirilhas (small javelins) in the back of the bull.
Pega de caras
In the second stage, called the pega, the forcados, a group of eight men, challenge the bull directly without any protection or weapon of defense. The front man provokes the bull into a charge to perform a pega de cara or pega de caras (face catch). The front man secures the animal's head and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued. Many people who watch Portuguese-style bullfights in the United States use the term, "suicide squad", to refer to this group of eight men.
The bull is not killed in the ring and, at the end of the corrida, leading oxen are let into the arena and two campinos on foot herd the bull along them back to its pen. The bull can be either killed, away from the audience's sight, by a professional butcher or, after an good performance, restored to health and released to pasture for breeding.[citation needed] Nevertheless, tradition was so strong at the small frontier town of Barrancos, where the bull was illegally put to death in the arena, that the government was forced to relent and permit the town to follow its ancient matador tradition and kill the bull in the arena.
There are other forms of traditional bullfighting in Portugal, some differing markedly from the version described above. In the Azores, bullfighting is often reminiscent of the running of the bulls in Pamplona (Spain) in the respect that those most at risk are human beings, not the bulls themselves. The Azorean style involves a group of people vying in a tug-of-war with a young bull by holding fast to a long stout rope tied around the bull's neck. This is called the tourada à corda (bull-on-a-rope 'game').
BULLFIGHTING IN SPAIN
The campaigning website www.stopbullfighting.org.uk contains a graphic description of bullfighting practices in Spain.and offers some of the arguments for bullfighting:
THE PRE-FIGHT TREATMENT - SPAIN
PICADORS
The bull is not an aggressive animal, and the reason he is angry and attempts to charge at the matador whilst in the bullring is mainly because he has been horrendously abused for the previous two days. In fact, what spectators see is not a normal, healthy bull, but a weakened, half-blinded and mentally destroyed version, whose chances of harming his tormentors is virtually nil.
The bull has wet newspapers stuffed into his ears; vaseline is rubbed into his eyes to blur his vision; cotton is stuffed up his nostrils to cut off his respiration and a needle is stuck into his genitals. Also, a strong caustic solution is rubbed onto his legs which throws him off balance.
This also keeps him from lying down on the ground. In addition to this, drugs are administered to pep him up or slow him down, and strong laxatives are added to his feed to further incapacitate him.
He is kept in a dark box for a couple of days before he faces the ring: the purpose of this is to disorientate him. When he is let out of the box, he runs desperately towards the light at the end of the tunnel. He thinks that at last his suffering is over and he is being set free — instead, he runs into the bullring to face his killers and a jeering mob.
THE FIGHT
Strictly speaking, a bullfight is composed of 3 separate “acts”, and the whole thing is supposed to last for 20 minutes, though in actual fact it varies. The opening of a bullfight begins with a tune being played on a trumpet, the tune is the special, signa lure Rifle which characterises the beginning of the horror. Upon entering the ring, bulls have been known to collapse through exhaustion alter their pre-fight ordeal, they have been dragged to their feet by the bullfighter’s assistants.
THE PICADORS
The sequence of events begins when the bull faces the picadors, these are the men on horseback, whose purpose it is to exhaust the bull. They cut into his neck muscles with a pica. This is a weapon of about 6-8 inches long, and 2 inches thick. Once it is thrust into the bull it is twisted round and a large, gaping wound appears. The bull then starts bleeding to death.
THE ASSISTANT MATADORS
After the picador has finished his sordid business, the assistant matadors then get to work with the banderillas (sharp, harpoon-like barbed instruments). These are plunged into the bull’s body, and he may also be taunted by capes. Up to six banderillas may be used. When the banderillas strike the bull stops in his tracks and bellows madly.
THE KILL
A trumpet signals the final “act,” in fact, during the whole nightmare, strange, slow tunes are played throughout. It is, of course, during the final act that the bull is killed (and hopefully goes onto a better life). The kill should last 6 minutes, and is done by the main matador. If he has any difficulties (which is an extremely rare occurrence), the others immediately rush in to his aid and finish off the bull.
THE FINAL DEGRADATION
The matador is supposed to sever the artery near the heart with one thrust of the sword — in fact, this never happens. It often takes 2-3 times before the creature is mercifully released by death. By this time, the bull’s lungs and heart will be punctured and he always vomits blood.
Miraculously, he sometimes attempts to rise again, and gets up on his knees, only to receive further mutilation at the hands of his tormentors. He finally gives up, goes to his knees and lies down. Even then, he is not allowed a little dignity to leave this world in peace, his ears and tail are cut off, oftenwhen he is fully conscious, and his broken, bleeding body is dragged around the ring by mules, to which he is attached by an apparatus made of wood and chains.
Not content with his suffering, which must be too horrible to describe by words, the crowds boo and jeer him. They even throw empty beer cans at him. His body is then taken away to be skinned, and even then he may not be dead when this happens.
It is not clear which parts of the above spectacle comprise the 'enjoyable family fun' spoken of by proponents of bullfighting.
