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NEVER
DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF
THOUGHTFUL, COMMITTED, CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE
WORLD.
INDEED, IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS.
MARGARET
MEAD
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Footnote:
The campaign is already having success.
A number of companies are now withdrawing their sponsorship of
bullfighting related activities. For example, international giant KODAK
following international protests for being associated through one of its
local distributors with the weekly Portuguese pro-bullfighting programme
Arts and Emotion ended its sponsorship. Its UK Chairman wrote –
“KODAK in no way condones cruelty to animals. Upon being made aware of
this situation, KODAK requested that the association of the KODAK brand
with the programme cease…”


If
you would like to actively help or give a donation to the campaign,
please contact ANIMAL by e-mail on
info@animal.org.pt.

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ITS TIME TO END BULLFIGHTING IN PORTUGAL |
The Marchig Animal
Welfare Trust is currently jointly funding with
Portuguese benefactors through the organisation ANIMAL, a campaign that
seeks to end the brutal and barbaric pastime of bullfighting in Portugal.
As with any other bullfight, Portuguese-style
bullfights are vicious spectacles, undertaken merely to provide
so-called ‘artistic entertainment’ and pleasure for the watching people,
but which cause real cruelty, terror and suffering for the animals
involved.
Prior to the actual fights, bulls are transported to the bullrings in
cramped cages. Once there, the ends of the horns which are extremely
sensitive are sawn off, causing blood loss and severe pain. This
practice also causes the bulls to become confused, as the ends of the
horns are used to help guide the animal’s movements. The bulls are then
deprived of food and water right up to the moment they enter the ring,
leaving them weak.
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Far from being the aggressive animal that supporters of bullfighting
would have us believe, the bulls behaviour in the bullring is driven by
the sheer terror it now feels and senses as the crowd bay for the
torment to begin. This fear is increased by the sheer physical
suffering the bull endures, as it is tormented by bullfighters on
horseback that drive several long harpoon style spears into the animals
back and neck muscles. As a result of all this brutality, the bull
becomes further physically weaker as the blood loss begins to take
effect causing feverish dizziness. The horses too are often badly
injured.
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It is at this time, that a group of eight men called ‘forcados’ push and
kick the bull, whilst pulling violently on its tail. This lasts for
some thirty minutes after which the bull is taken from the ring and the
harpoon style spears removed, by cutting into the flesh around the
spears. No anaesthesia or pain relief of any kind is given. The bull
is then left, sometimes for up to two days, before being taken off to
the slaughterhouse where it will be killed and its torment finally
brought to an end.
In
the town of Barrancos close to the Spanish border, bulls are allowed to
be killed in the arena ‘Spanish style’ by having a sword driven into the
heart, although it is also known to happen illegally and with impunity
in some other towns in the Alentejo region of Portugal.
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Standards of morals, ethics and decency change from generation to
generation and what may have once been acceptable under the guise of
“tradition”, is no longer the case in the 21st Century. Such
deliberate torment, suffering and cruelty for spectacle and pleasure
have no place whatsoever in a civilised society. Bullfighting in
Portugal and in other countries around the world must be brought to an
end - now!
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