Portugal: Ministry of Culture Creates Department for Bullfighting
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

European Vegetarian and Animal News Alliance (EVANA)
February 2010

Even though the large majority of the Portuguese population objects to bullfights and is in favour of banning events based on cruelty and animal abuse, Minister Gabriela Canavilhas has ordered the creation of a "Secção de Tauromaquia", a department for bullfighting within "Conselho Nacional de Cultura" (consultative body for the Minister). In times of economal hardship this superfluous initiative will have to be financed by taxpayers even though it hurts their ethical convictions.

In light of growing public pressure on the bullfighting industries in many countries, including Spain, France and also in Portugal and a rapidly growing international disgust with this kind of brutal ‘entertainment’, a Ministry department dedicated to bullfights can only be considered as political anachronism. Moreover it deals a serious blow to the large majority of Portuguese citizens who see bullfights as pure brutality, dressed up as tradition.

Why is it that bulls, in the interest of the bullfighting industry of some countries, are excluded from basic animal welfare legislation?

MEP signatories of the Written Declaration ... on the on the EU-wide ban on bullfighting addressed this issue when they appealed to the "Commission to act upon Parliament’s response to the Animal Welfare Action Plan, which called for all animals, and not just farm animals and those used in experiments, to be included in EU animal protection measures...".

Such fundamental rules of animal protection obviously have not been implemented in Portugal where it seems more important to accommodate the lust of some wanting to witness an animal being tortured slowly to death, instead of granting all animals a minimum of civilized treatment and by that respecting the wish of the great majority of the European population.

More information:

European Parliament: Written Declaration pursuant to Rule 116 of the Rules of Procedure by Robert Evans, Mojca Drčar Murko, Gitte Seeberg and Carl Schlyter on the EU-wide ban on bullfighting.

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