FULL REPORT - BULLFIGHTS IN SPAIN AN INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION BY IN COLLABORATION WITH S.B. (Investigation Unit Coordinator – LAV) With the exclusive veterinary contributions of José Enrique Zaldívar (President – AVATMA, Association of Veterinary Abolitionists of Bullfighting and Animal Abuse) Under coordination and review of Marta Esteban Miñano (International Managing Director – Animal Guardians) BULLFIGHTING IN ALGEMESÍ (VALENCIA) Period: from 22/09/2019 to 24/09/2019 Places: Bullring of Algemesí / Butcher shop in Algemesí / Center of Algemesí / Object of the investigation: collection of videos of the process of the bullfights starting in the breeding, followed by the transport, the act in the bullring and the process of converting the body in a meat product. In the Algemesí’s images (as well as in the ones concerning Seville and Madrid) we can see the three standard thirds (tran. phases) of the bullfight: the Tercio de Varas (tran. Third of Rods), with passes with the cape and confrontation with the horse of the picador (bullfighter on horse), the Tercio de Banderillas (tran. Third of Flags) and the Tercio de Muerte (tran. Third of Death), which includes the Faena de Muleta (cape task used by the bullfighter to tease the bull with a cape), and the process by which, with the use of various weapons (estoque, descabello and puntilla, explained below), the life of these animals is ended in the bullrings. Before going out to the ring, in the pens, a divisa (coloured ribbon), which is a double harpoon measuring 9 cm, is nailed to the bull’s neck. It is adorned with coloured ribbons which identify the ranch to which the animal belongs. First, the picadores (bullfighters on horse) act in the first third of the bullfight (Tercio de Varas). It is used to measure the animal's bravery, cause intense pain, and weaken him by making him fight against the horse. At the tip of a long wooden stick, called puya (tran. spear) is inserted. It measures 8.9 cm to what is called the cruceta (red area), and it is inserted into the bull's muscles behind the neck. It causes different trajectories, measured during autopsies, of up to 30 cm long. It causes injury to muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, blood vessels and even bone structures of thoracic vertebrae. It produces profuse bleeding. After the Tercio de Varas, comes the Tercio de Banderillas during which the animal is harpooned with six harpoons that are 6 cm long, inserted into coloured wooden sticks. They dig into the muscles previously injured by the puya, causing more pain and more bleeding. Then comes what is known as the Tercio de Muerte, during which the torero (professional bullfighter who fights 4/5-year-old bulls) or the novillero (bullfighter who bullfights 2/3-year- old animals) performs what is known as the Faena de Muleta and, once the animal is physically and mentally exhausted, he proceeds to kill him. For this, an estoque (a typical bullfighting sword) is used, which measures 80 cm. The estoque is inserted into the thorax of the animal. It produces an intense haemorrhage since it cuts veins, arteries, bronchi and lungs. The consequence is that the animal will suffer an intense suffocation due to blood flooding his thoracic cavity. If the animal does not fall to the ground or takes too long to do so, the bullfighter will use another sword, called descabello (special sword to apply a thrust to the neck), which is nailed between the first and second cervical vertebrae and which cuts the spinal cord, leaving the animal quadriplegic. AVATMA collected evidence of cases in which there have been up to eight failed descabellos on the same animal. Once on the ground, the bull resting on his folded legs, the puntilla (special knife) is always used by a subalterno (subordinate assistant) of the bullfighter: it is a 10 cm long knife, which is driven through the occipital bone and the first cervical vertebra, damaging an important nervous centre called the "medulla oblongata", which connects the spinal cord to the brain. The consequence will be the death of the animal, but that does not occur immediately; it can take between one and four minutes for the animal to die. The movements of the legs, which happen while the puntilla is being applied, are nervous reflexes in response to an injury to the centre mentioned above, the "medulla oblongata". These are not seizures. There are many cases, documented through filming, in which these animals have their ears cut off or they are dragged by the mules out of the bullring, when they are still alive. During the Tercio de Muerte it is possible to see that death is a more or less agonizing process, depending on the placement of the sword, that is, on how it has been nailed to the bull. When the sword or estoque penetrates the animal, it can cut various structures: bronchi, lungs, large blood vessels (posterior aorta, caudal vena cava), or not so large and even, if it is placed too far forward, it can section the trachea, and if it goes too far back, go through the diaphragm (muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen). This is why each animal dies in a different way. Lunges that seem very "accurate", because all the steel has entered the animal’s body, are not so much so. We can also see some lunges that dig into bone (vertebrae). Consequently, some bulls vomit blood through the mouth, through the nostrils or through both the mouth and nostrils. In other cases, no blood comes out. All this is accompanied, as it can be seen, by very fast breathing (bulls breathe with their mouths open), the result of the great physical effort they have been subjected to during the fight. Sometimes, as can be seen in some images, we see bulls or novillos that fall after the lunge and rise again. It is what we previously pointed out of the "accurate" and not "accurate" lunges that may not be what they seem. Once the estoque has been introduced in the animal’s body, we see how, with the capes, the subordinates tease the bull. This is done so that the sword moves within the animal's thorax and accelerates death. At other times, it can be seen how the sword is removed before proceeding to the coup de grâce with the descabello or puntilla, in order to make the bleeding more intense. As already mentioned, all animals are finished with the puntilla. About the use of this weapon it must be said that it was prohibited in all slaughterhouses in the European Union because it was considered a cruel way of killing an animal. Bullfights in the bullring are an exception to this rule. It is compulsory that, before proceeding to the bleeding of the animals slaughtered in slaughterhouses, that they are previously stunned (in the case of cattle, this is done with what is known as a captive bullet pistol that applied to the skull causes the loss of awareness). About this, the Association of Veterinarians for the Abolition of Bullfighting and Animal Mistreatment (AVATMA) prepared a report1 which was presented at the European Parliament. The bullring of Algemesí is built and managed by the cadafals (group of friends who get together for partying). Every year the tiers of the bullring are auctioned. They have permission to sell tickets and win money, but, as one of the managers told to the investigator, this is difficult, their cadafal paid this year 19.100 euros for the tier. Members of cadafal and their young kids can be seen on the tiers. Bulls are brought to the bullring through an encierro. This act is done every morning and it consists of making the bulls run through the streets (Sometimes also during the night, but it is not usual). Fragments of running of the bulls can be seen in the images: sometimes the animals that participate in the encierro are the same that will be killed later during the bullfight, sometimes not. As it can be seen, the novillos are led by being beaten with sticks. All the animals killed in the novilladas (bullfights with young male bovines as the one in Algemesí) are 3 years old. The ages and names of the lidia (fighting breed cattle are: bulls (4 and 5 years old); novillos (2 and 3 years old); becerros (less than 2 years old). The bullfighters in the filming are called novilleros because they kill novillos. These bullfighters are trying to get to be toreros. To be a novillero (bullfighter of 2/3 years-old animals) is the previous step to being a torero who can fight 4/5 years old bulls. 1 https://avatma.org/2018/03/16/avatma-lleva-el-maltrato-animal-en-mataderos-y-la-tauromaquia-a-debate-al-parlamento-europeo/ Dead bulls are moved outside the ring and put openly on a scraper bucket, close to really young kids and people in general. In Algemesi some footages documented another type of show within the bullfighting demonstrations of that town, which comes to be like the presentation of the novillos that will be fought in the bullring later. This is called desencajonada (tran. “to take out of the box”). During the desencajonada, the novillos that will be fought the next day are released for a while within the bullring and will be fought the next day. As it can be seen, the fear they feel makes them group together, that is, unite to defend themselves. It is not unusual that, on occasions, there are clashes between some of these animals, but to avoid them, the cabestros (tame leading-ox) are used.