- México -
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced that “The Monumental Plaza de Toros in Mexico City—the world’s largest bullfighting arena—is no longer a venue for bullfights.”
On Friday, June 10, 2022, District Judge Jonathan Bass Herrera, head of the First District Court in Administrative matters of México, granted the provisional suspension of bullfighting in the capital and “has ordered that the authorities also suspend the granting of permits to perform such cruel spectacles”, reports Vegan FTA.
Vegan FTA goes on to explain: “This is to give time to the courts to deal with the complaint issued by the group Justicia Justa, which aims to ban all bullfighting in the city. They argue that the two laws that allow bullfighting in the capital are unconstitutional because they allow bulls to be treated in a degrading and stigmatizing way.”
Kitty Block, President and CEO of HSUS, said in her blog that “This is the first time in its 76-year history that the 50,000-seat Monumental Plaza de Toros has been legally prevented from staging bullfights.”
Kitty explained that Judge Bass Herrera’s decision was based on “Article 13-B of the local constitution of Mexico City, which guarantees the ‘right to a healthy environment’ and recognizes animals as ‘sentient beings’.”
In 2016, Humane Society International/Mexico in collaboration with local legislators, worked to “ensure the constitution reflected citizen concern for animal welfare”, said Kitty.
The Humane Society of the United States’ involvement in the “drafting of the constitution and the shaping of that article” made the ban possible and the agency also expressed gratitude to Justicia Justa, which brought this issue to court.
Sadly, México is one of the few countries that still allows bullfighting and this barbaric activity has a large number of supporters. While supporters see the judge’s decision as an attack on one of México’s long-standing traditions, animal rights activists see bullfighting for what it is, the murder of innocent animals getting senselessly killed to please crowds of heartless people who pay to see their death!
The verb “matar” means to kill in Spanish, so, a “matador” is literally a KILLER!
The ‘matadores’ plunge ‘banderillas’ into the back of a bull involved in a bullfight causing excruciating pain. Remember, bulls, just like animals who get hunted or animals used in fights ARE NOT WILLING PARTICIPANTS and that is why hunting, dogfighting, bullfighting, etc. are neither a sport nor a show! In these cases, the words ‘sport’ and ‘show’ are improper, unfitting, and unwarranted!!!!
Kitty mentioned in her blog: “As Judge Bass pointed out, ‘society demands that the physical and emotional integrity of all animals, including bulls, is respected’.”
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