The bullfighting industry has many secrets that it does not want the public to know, from the biological nature of the bulls it exploits, to where the industry receives funding from.
They lie, like all the others.
If you look at it in detail, you will find that any animal exploitation industry lies to their “customers” and the public because, deep down, they know that what they do is unethical. Even millennia ago, when religions began to be formed, animal sacrifices were used to appease the gods and be forgiven for killing animals during hunting — knowing they should not be doing this. Some Indigenous tribes still talk to the bodies of the animals they just hunted asking them for forgiveness.
The bullfighting industry is not that far removed from the animal sacrifices of our ancient past. It revolves around the ritualised execution of a sentient being, now justified with concepts such as art, culture, tradition, or simply profit, but, in essence, is all about doing something unethical they should not be doing and enjoying the thrill of its “forbidden” nature. However, coupled with that thrill there is also a deep feeling of guilt, and this is where the lies come from. The bullfighting industry, like any other animal exploitation industry, lies about what they do because they know that if the truth is exposed, decent people out there will judge them — and rightly so — and not support them anymore. They know their days will be numbered if they do not hide the most scandalous aspects of their practices. Following this are eight facts the bullfighting industry does not want people to know.
1. Bullfights are not fights between a bull and a human, but ritualised executions
Despite being called “bullfights,” these events are highly one-sided and designed to always end in the bull’s death (bullfighters are killed only on very rare occasions when mistakes were made). In fact, this misnomer is not even seen in the languages where the modern types of bullfighting come from. In Spain, they are called “corridas de toros” (literally, runnings of the bulls), not to be confused with what in English is called “running of the bulls” (which in Spanish is called “encierro”). Equally, in Portugal, they are called “touradas” (bull-events), and in French “corridas” (runnings).
In the wrongly called bullfights, bulls are systematically weakened by a team of people before any attempt to kill them is made. Before releasing them into the centre of the bullring, they have already been stressed (and even hurt) so the “fight” starts with the bull already at a disadvantage. Once in the arena, the weakening of the scared bulls continues by making them run constantly (bulls do not sweat so they overheat quickly when running, reaching exhaustion much sooner than horses, humans, or dogs), and by stabbing them in the backs with a lance and hooked sticks by several bullfighters (this is aimed to make the bulls lose blood), before facing the “matador” (just another member of the team of people trained to execute six bulls in any bullfight), who delivers the final blow, killing the exhausted and weakened bull with a sword. If this is unsuccessful, the bull will be killed with a dagger. This process is more akin to ritualised slaughter performed by a dressed-up “priest” than a fair fight between two combatants, but seeing it as it is would remove some of the drama of the narrative the industry uses to sell tickets to their spectacles, so they simply lie and disguise the whole thing as an “honourable” fight.
2. Bullfighting bulls are the same species as Western bulls used in the meat and dairy industry
Contrary to popular belief (created by the lies of the bullfighting industry), bulls used in bullfighting are not a unique species of bovid, but just variations of distinctive breeds of the same species (and even sub-species) of bulls used in the West for the meat and dairy industries (Bos taurus taurus). Although they are selectively bred for aggression, in reality, the different farms that breed bulls for bullfighting may have managed to increase the chance of bulls charging a little bit, but not enough to guarantee that all the bulls they have will be “good enough” for bullfighting. Although the intent to breed aggressive charging bulls is what the bullfighting bull breeders do to justify charging a lot of money for their “products”, the truth is that the behaviour of the bull has more to do with his life experience (kept in open fields with very little contact with humans and not overfed) than with his genes, so no matter which farm they come from, there is no guarantee they will “perform” as expected.
The bullfighting industry lies about its bulls saying that they are the original bulls that other domestic bulls were bred from. This is completely untrue. All typical bulls and cows we think of when we hear these terms today are descended from as few as 80 animals who were domesticated from wild oxes in the Near East some 10,500 years ago. Since then, three sub-species were created, first the aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius) closer to the original wild ox and no longer in existence today, and from this, taurine bulls and dairy cows (Bos taurus taurus) and the Zebu or Indian cows (Bos taurus indicus) which form all the breeds of all domestic “cattle” alive today. Taurine bovids are now common in Eurasia and America, while Zebus are common in Africa and Asia. Bullfighting bulls are just several breeds of taurine bovids. Furthermore, there is no distinctive “bullfighting bull breed”, but each farm that breeds bulls for bullfighting has its own variations, without having reached a consistent “type” that would justify the naming of a specific breed.
3. Bulls tortured in bullrings suffer a great deal of pain and die in agony
Believe it or not, the bullfighting industry even uses their vets to produce bogus research trying to prove that bulls do not suffer when tortured to death with lances, hooked sticks and swords for 20 minutes in the arena.
In 2007, around the time that Catalonia was debating banning bullfighting (which it successfully did in 2010), a report published by veterinary scientists at one of Madrid’s universities suggested that bullfighting bulls have “special hormonal mechanisms that allow them to overcome stress… and free themselves from pain”. Based on blood samples taken during the execution, the study said it showed that with each spike of the picador’s lance or thrust of the matador’s sword, the bull releases high levels of beta-endorphins (the hormones that produce pleasure and block pain). Prof Juan Carlos Illera, a director of veterinary medicine at Complutense University, who led the study using a sample of 500 bulls, said “The whole nervous system of the animal enters into play and high levels of the substance are released to switch off pain receptors.”
The whole thing is, of course, another elaborate lie of the bullfighting industry and the vets it pays (as, like with the meat and dairy industry, veterinarians are paid to help the exploiters use the animals within the “rules” established by legislation), and was quickly debunked by scientist and other vets that showed how the study’s conclusions and the publicity around it were not supported by the data. María González, veterinarian and co-founder of the La Vida Color Fambuesa animal sanctuary, said that “the bull suffers like any individual with a central nervous system. He suffers from the moment he is harassed to get on a truck, he suffers fear and panic on the journey. The screams, the darkness, all of that is processed by your brain as something unknown, as something dangerous…The analysis of some blood parameters such as markers of stress and muscle function, as well as changes in pH and blood gas concentration are indicators that leave no room for doubt about suffering.” The very existence of endorphins while being tortured is an indication of pain and suffering, as they can be found in any mammal (including humans) who is suffering (so, there is nothing distinctive in bullfighting bulls in this regard) to help cope with that suffering.
4. Bulls are not the only nonhuman animal victims of bullfighting
Most people know that bulls are victims of bullfighting, but other nonhuman animals are also too. First, the cows that are bred to produce bullfighting bulls, and often killed if the bulls do not “perform” as intended. Then, the cows that are used in the Course Landaise, which is a specific type of French-style bullfighting that only takes place in the South West of France, and in which cows rather than bulls are used (in this case they are not killed in the arena but they are definitively distressed, stressed, and exhausted).
Finally, horses are also abused in bullfights. In Portuguese-style bullfights, and in a variation of the Spanish-style bullfights called “Rejoneo”, the main bullfighters are on a horse, and they torture the bulls while riding specially trained horses. Sometimes the bulls catch the horses by accident and injure them — which will lead to their euthanasia — but always these horses suffer from the heavy use of the rider’s spurs, leaving bloody marks on their flanks. In traditional “on foot” Spanish-style bullfighting, other horses are also used by a type of bullfighter called “Picador”, whose job is to stab the bull’s back with a lance. In the past, these horses would be gored and die on the arena, but current regulations oblige them to wear protected padding so they are not injured. However, sometimes the bull pushes them so hard that they fall, and then they could be gored in the abdominal region that is not protected. These horses are blindfolded so they do not run from the bull, showing how distressful the experience must be for them. Horses are not only used in bullfights in public but also in “training bullfights” in bullfighting schools, and in the methods to select the best bulls in the farms.
5. Most people in bullfighting countries are against bullfighting
The bullfighting industry wants people to believe that their activities are very popular in the countries where they are practised. This is another lie. Nine countries have a fully fledged bullfighting industry: Spain, Portugal, France, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico and the US. Surveys in each of these have consistently revealed that a majority of citizens oppose it.
This has been happening year after year. The latest poll conducted in Europe was commissioned by the anti-bullfighting organisation CAS-International in 2024. In the study, 7,500 citizens were polled by Ipsos I&O Public, and the researchers found that 77% of the respondents agreed that bullfighting causes too much suffering to bulls, 65% agreed that children under 18 should be prohibited from attending bullfights, only one in every five persons thought that bullfighting is a valuable tradition that should have a place in society, and 58% favoured a complete ban on bullfighting (when this last question was broken down by country, Portugal and France both showed 60% and Spain 54%). In the past 20 years, the number of bullfights in France has decreased by 40%, and by 63% since 2007 in Spain. In Portugal, 166 bullfights were held in 2023, the lowest number ever recorded in the country. Catalonia banned bullfighting in 2010 and there have not been any bullfights since, and the Canary Islands (which belong to Spain) already banned it many decades ago. In France, bullfighting is banned in the majority of the territory and only allowed in some municipalities in the South.
In Latin American countries with a bullfighting industry, the situation is the same. Several Mexican states have already banned bullfighting (Sinaloa, Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila, and Quintana Roo), a 2011 referendum in Ecuador about bullfighting showed that most people wanted it banned, in 2024 Colombia banned bullfighting after several failed attempts because the population was demanding it, and in Venezuela, there are only a few bullfights a year still performed.
6. Bullfighting is animal torture, not culture or art
Bullfighting is often defended as a cultural heritage, but inflicting pain and death on animals for entertainment cannot be justified under the guise of tradition. The cultural argument gained legal backing in Spain when bullfighting was declared part of the country’s “Patrimonio Cultural” (Cultural Heritage) in 2013. Other countries have done the same. In 2024, the Commission on Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Peru approved bills 828/2022-CR and 5492/2022-CR, which recognise bullfighting and cockfighting as cultural manifestations. This “culturisation” of bullfighting has led to the famous anti-bullfighting slogan “Bullfighting is not Culture, is Torture.”
Even worse, bullfighting supporters elevate bullfighting to an art form, romanticising its choreography and symbolism, and then claiming subsidies from governments’ art departments. The interpretation of bullfighting as an art can be blamed on “foreign” aficionados such as Lord Byron, Ernest Hemingway, or Orson Wells, who often talked about bullfighting as an art. This “elevation” of entertainment by torture is just another of the lies the bullfighting industry spreads, and as this industry is supported by the elites and people in power, this lie has been cemented in books, the media, award prizes, etc.
Naturally, real artists have been trying to stop the corruption of their fields by the blood of innocent creatures. On 3rd May 2024, Spain scrapped the traditional annual bullfighting award, which was a 30,000-euro government cheque given to famous bullfighters or cultural organisations related to the bullfighting tradition. The Culture Ministry Ernest Urtasun, from left-wing party Sumar (traditionally anti-bullfighting), said it based its decision to abolish the award on the “new social and cultural reality in Spain.” He posted on X, “There is a social majority of Spaniards that is increasingly aware of animal welfare. With the suppression of the National Bullfighting Award, we take an important step to adapt our institutions to the Spain of 2024.”
7. The bullfighting industry is subsidised by taxpayers’ funds
Bullfighting relies heavily on financial support from local and national governments, and even the EU. Therefore, taxpayers’ money is going to finance bullfighting, even from citizens in countries and regions where bullfighting is banned. In Spain alone, public funds amounting to hundreds of millions of euros annually sustain this industry, despite widespread public opposition to such subsidies
In Portugal, France and Spain, bullfighting bull breeders receive substantial subsidies from the European Union through agricultural programs like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). These payments persist even though many EU lawmakers (The EU Parliament has voted twice, in 2015 and 2022, to stop these subsidies but nothing changed) and EU citizens oppose using public funds to support such practices because the European Commission claims they cannot separate the subsidies that go to breed bulls for meat from those to breed bulls for spectacles. Since 2003, EU farm subsidies have mostly been allocated on the amount of land farmed, rather than output or the final destination of products, which has effectively worked as a way to “hide” the EU subsidies to bullfighting (therefore, the best way to stop this would be stop all subsidies to the breeding of any bull or cow, within the vegan paradigm).
A 2013 assessment estimated that no less than 571€ million were given to the bullfighting industry annually by different tiers of Spanish authorities, and no less than 130€ million by the European Union. Spain’s Unión de Criadores de Toros de Lidia (bullfighting bulls breeders), which represents the interests of 347 breeders, estimated in 2022 that a ban on the subsidy payout would mean an economic hit of around €200m a year for the bullfighting sector across Europe.
8. Bullfighting is a symbol of colonisation and is not traditional in most locations where it is practised
The bullfighting industry keeps rejecting the bullfighting bans citizens want as it claims it is a cultural tradition that should be protected, but in most places where bullfighting takes place it is not really traditional, and it was imposed by external cultural or physical occupiers alien to the local culture. There is no doubt that bullfighting was introduced to all American countries as part of the Spanish colonisation process. Even bulls were introduced in America as they did not exist before Europeans colonised the continent. In Peru, there is even a festival that explicitly portrays this introduction. The Yawar Festival (Yawar Fiesta in Spanish), also known as the “Blood Festival,” is an event that happens in various Andean communities of Peru. It symbolises the historical struggle between indigenous people and Spanish colonisers, with the Andean condor representing the Incas and the bull symbolising Spanish rule. The event was meant to serve as an allegory of anti-colonial resistance, with the condor — a revered figure in Andean cosmology — symbolising the strength and resilience of indigenous people. The bull, introduced by the Spanish, came to represent colonial oppression.
In France, bullfighting was also introduced from Spain. Although there are traditional French-style versions, Spanish-style bullfighting was introduced in France in 1853 to please Empress Eugénie, the Spanish wife of Emperor Napoleon III. We can also argue that, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic islands, bullfighting was introduced by the occupying Spaniards of the South. In Catalonia, for instance, bullfighting was imposed by the Spaniards, which was a factor that contributed to how easy it was to ban it in 2010. After the fascist General Franco won the Spanish Civil War in 1939, he used bullfighting to promote a unitary national identity and to suppress the Catalan, Basque, Galician, and Asturian cultures of the North who fought against him. For Franco, bullfighting was a metaphor for a supposed superior race and homogenous nation characteristic of fascism — and this is why it continues to be associated with the political right. It’s not surprising to see an absence of bullfighting now in the immense majority of municipalities in the North of the peninsula — with their own distinctive cultural identity far from the one of Andalucia, where the modern form of Spanish-style bullfighting was developed. Today, the bullfighting industry continues spreading the lie that bullfighting is traditional everywhere other than in the South of the Iberian Peninsula.
Bullfighting is an abomination riddled with lies that must be abolished.
Act Now to Ban Bullfighting in Galicia: https://drove.com/.2DVj
