Vigo, one of the major cities of Galicia, an autonomous region of Spain in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, has declared itself a city against animal cruelty, despite the fact it still has a zoo (the only one in the region).
On 28th December 2022, Vigo’s City Council approved a motion of the Galician Nationalist block BNG that, among other fourteen measures, prohibits the staging of bullfights (which have never been part of the city’s culture). With the abstention of the municipal groups of the Conservatives PP and the socialists PSOE, and the support of Marea de Vigo, the BNG managed to approve in the plenary session a motion declaring Vigo as a city against animal abuse.
Councilman Xabier P. Igrexas, who highlighted the 2013 decision to prohibit circuses and events with animals in captivity, said to La Voz Galicia: “Vigo has taken significant but insufficient steps in this matter”
The contradiction of this motion is that Vigo still has a zoo, called Vigozoo. The government intends to convert the zoo into a leisure, management, and environmental education centre in the future, although it will continue to have some animals in its facilities. The government said it wants to convert the centre into a rehabilitation place for wildlife, and as a space for social awareness of animal protection and welfare. However, it seems that it will still be a zoo forcing animals to live in captivity against their will for life. Stopping animals to be kept in circuses but not in zoos is a contradiction for a city against animal cruelty.
On the other side, even if there is not an active bullring in the city, explicitly banning bullfighting is a welcoming measure, now that the campaign to ban it in the entirety of the Galician territory has stepped up as there is only one active bullring left staging a couple of bullfights a year.
