Bull gets revenge - not for the squeamish

[Lord Bracknell]

Yeah about the same

http://www.sharkonline.org/?P=0000000423

Warning the above link is very graphic.

I find it interesting that the text used in that video - words like "sissy boy" to describe the matador - seem to be a total endorsement of the macho culture that lies behind bullfighting as a sport.

 

[NMH]

What happens to the bull when it gets killed? I'd hate to think they get killed and not consequently eaten.

Hopefully it will at least be used to feed other animals - if not at a zoo, then as dog food. One hopes.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I agree.

But what is also sick and wrong is breeding animals for mass-consumption as cheaply as possible in appalling conditions. Therefore, if you enjoy buying and eating cheap mass-produced burgers, then your right to criticise and denounce bullfighting as being cruel is somewhat undermined.

Many of us get sqeamish when we actually see a matador killing a bull, whilst hardly giving a second thought to the fate of the creature we are happily chewing away on with a slice of cheese, some mustard, some ketchup and a pickle. Meat is packaged in such a way these days that it is almost completely (and conveniently) dissassociated from the fact that it was once also a living, breathing animal.

So its easy to point the finger and say "oh thats disgusting" when you see a bull in its last throes in the ring, whilst at the same time not giving a second thought to the treatment of cows for your fast food. I say again, at least the bull bred for the ring has led a better life than one bred for a Big Mac.

You see this argument just does not wash with me. I do not believe that have seats and paying spectators at abatoires to see the kill and applaude the butcher. The " you eat meat " you are as bad as the people who pay to see a bullfight is BOLLOCKS.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

That can't be right. I'm sure I read somewhere you can only lose about 8-10 pints and live.

They pumped him with pint after pint of blood so 17 pints going in and out is quite feasable.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Human have 8 pints of blood in them.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I pay a monthly sum to the World Wildlife Fund and have volunteered in the past for conservation projects and am a self-confessed eco-warrior when it comes to protecting the environment and all wildlife. I don't kill spiders or insects. I avoid buying products that are battery farmed and things containing palm oil and so on...

But, I wouldn't want bullfighting banned and my trip to a bullfight in Riobamba was one of the highlights of my gap year travels. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

That is odd.

 

[middletoenail]

I pay a monthly sum to the World Wildlife Fund and have volunteered in the past for conservation projects and am a self-confessed eco-warrior when it comes to protecting the environment and all wildlife. I don't kill spiders or insects. I avoid buying products that are battery farmed and things containing palm oil and so on...

But, I wouldn't want bullfighting banned and my trip to a bullfight in Riobamba was one of the highlights of my gap year travels. I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

Exactly the same as me!

 

[Hotchilidog]

Well at least the bull had a go at taking one with him. Bull "fighting" is an absolutely sick activity, a few more gorings and even the matadors may get tired of it.

 

[Easy 10]

You see this argument just does not wash with me. I do not believe that have seats and paying spectators at abatoires to see the kill and applaude the butcher. The " you eat meat " you are as bad as the people who pay to see a bullfight is BOLLOCKS.

You're still missing my point though. Its not so much how the bull eventually meets its demise. Its the fact that a bull bred for the bullring will have enjoyed a far longer, happier, healthier life than its cousin who was bred for a Big Mac. And yet we denounce bullfighting, whilst continuing to consume cheap burgers.

I agree with you that bullfighting is an unedifying spectacle and not something I could possibly gain any enjoyment from watching. But there is a difference in the quality of life those two respective creatures will have led up until the moment they are dispatched. So I say it IS hypocritical to denounce bullfighting if you eat burgers.

 

[bhaexpress]

There is something else, how many horses get put down as a result of getting injured in National Hunt racing ?

 

[Easy 10]

There is something else, how many horses get put down as a result of getting injured in National Hunt racing ?

 

[Hotchilidog]

There is something else, how many horses get put down as a result of getting injured in National Hunt racing ?

514 in the last 1141 days.

details here Race Horse Death Watch

You can add to that an unknown number who die off-track, and some of those who do not even make the grade as racehorses to begin with.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/oct/01/horseracing.sport

It is known as 'the sport of kings', full of glamour, effort and thrilling competition. But few of the thoroughbred racehorses that gallop their elegant way around the racecourses of Britain every week are left to see out their days grazing in golden pastures.

For thousands of British thoroughbreds that are too old, too slow or not good enough jumpers, the end is brutal: a bullet through the temple or a metal bolt into the side of the brain. Then their carcasses are loaded on to freezer lorries and driven to France, where their flesh is sold as gourmet meat.

This mass disposal of thoroughbreds is the side of the multi-billion-pound British racing industry that is rarely mentioned and even more rarely seen. It is not illegal. But animal welfare charities are demanding that more money be spent to provide sanctuaries where horses can live in retirement, and that the massive breeding programme that provides the sport with its horses be scaled back. Most of the animals, which could live on average more than 30 years, are killed before their fifth birthday.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

There is something else, how many horses get put down as a result of getting injured in National Hunt racing ?

Injured not tortured for hours with knives stuck in them. I do take your point as any death on the racecourse is bad and makes every racing fan very sad. This is in contrast to thousands of people having a wank in excitement at the slow death of an animal for the sheer " spectacle " of it imo.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

It is reported that each year, within Spain, 24,000 bulls are killed in front of an audience of 30 million people.

National hunt - 514 in the last 1141 days.
Spanish Bullfights - 75024 in the last 1141 days.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Hundreds of horses die unintentionally and intentionally long before their time as a spin off of an entertainment/sport industry.

Comparative numbers should not matter, surely? Those figures above are excluding those that do not make the grade or face retirement and are disposed of.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I did not bring up the analogy but went on the stats provided 75024 to 514.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Fair enough, I just find it strange that one can happily support an industry, both morally and financially, yet profess to be wholly against animal cruelty and needless deaths.

I guess bullfighting is an emotive topic and there is no middle ground.

 

[Simster]

I did not bring up the analogy but went on the stats provided 75024 to 514.

Fewer dogs die in dog fighting than horses die on the race course.

Does that make dog fighting OK then?