Corridas, Novilladas, in Beaucaire as elsewhere in the South of France, bulls die in front of children

The bulls die, as they always do in French arenas, in immeasurable suffering, under the cheers of their torturers and without understanding what is happening to them. Very young children attend these spectacles, which are deleterious to their psychological development, and are trained to do so. Others, barely of age, even take part in executions of extreme brutality and violence. From now on, our society should be putting up safeguards for young people, until these unjustifiable and barbaric practices are banned outright.

Investigations and images that continue to denounce these barbaric practices

We have never ceased to condemn bullfighting. From the first demonstrations in the 1990s alongside Théodore Monod, when the association was still called Aequalis and Talis, to the long partnership with Jean-Pierre Garrigues, to today, in the face of this novillada, a rite of passage for young bullfighters, which took place in Beaucaire. So, on July 25, our activists were raising public awareness with images from our investigations, both the one entitled “Bullfighters in the making”, and the 2019 one at the Nîmes bullfighting school, both conducted undercover. 

And we won’t stop until it’s a thing of the past. In reality, bullfighting is torture for the animals concerned, even if legally it benefits from a “cultural” exception, and constitutes a harmful spectacle for everyone, first and foremost children, a particularly vulnerable audience.

Ennui, dégout et pitié

For this whistleblower, who was attending a show of this type for the very first time: 

“Convinced that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to judge what we haven’t experienced, I took the plunge and went to the Beaucaire arena with a friend. […]

My predominant feelings could be defined as follows: boredom, disgust and pity. Pity for the animals, who were obviously wondering what they were doing there, but also pity for the spectators, who applauded with ridiculous gravity at every sword stroke that signed the agony of a young bull. Couldn’t they hear the chilling cries of pain from the animals? Didn’t they see, after the picador’s work, the gaping wounds from which blood gushed in geysers?

I remembered the aesthetic discourses of people I knew who were bullfighting enthusiasts: tragedy, beauty, philosophy. I even read up on the aesthetics of bullfighting… But all I saw was a disgusting, nauseating butchery, repeated six times at factory speed. As soon as one poor beast was killed, another would make their entrance, just as bewildered as the previous one.”

Children don’t have the reflex to protect themselves

“I was surprised to see, as soon as I arrived, the presence of children, some of them very young, with their parents. […] I thought that the emotional charge described by bullfighters was not suitable for children. I’m now convinced of it. However, what I saw was still below what I had sensed about the issue.

Barely a few minutes after the first bull entered the arena, he sent four men who were harassing him flying. Some adults hid their faces in their hands. The children received this vision in all its brutality. They had no reflex to protect themselves. What did they understand? What did they feel? I don’t know, but it questions and bothers me.

One of the bullfighters ended up in his tights on the sand, his ballet flats flying off on impact. […] It was grotesque and terrible.”

Apart from the bull, who bled to death under the sharp points of the weapons, none of the participants was seriously injured.

“Embellishing this slaughter with quasi-mystical philosophical considerations reminds me of Napoleon’s remark to Talleyrand: “Here, sir, you’re nothing but shit in a silk stocking.””

Our 2009 report is sadly still relevant.

We’ll be present again this summer at the Béziers Feria on the afternoon of August 14,  alongside Colbac, our partners in FLAC. Join us !