The Balearic Islands, an autonomous province of Spain, just voted to approve a proposal to amend their animal protection law to include a ban on all bullfighting on the islands.
Last Tuesday the Balearic Parliament voted in favor of the proposal to amend the law. The decision has the support of left-leaning groups like the socialist PSOE and and Podemos, but was opposed by conservative parties like the Popular Party. The campaign Mallorca Sense Sang (Mallorca Without Blood) has been fighting for this ban for two years since they consider this practice to be cruel and “death for fun.”
The proposal included a ban against bullfighting, the use of public funds for this practice, and the prohibition of all events that cause an animal’s suffering, like the annual bull-run.
Since Parliament’s decision is non-binding and still needs to be put into legislature, Mallorca Sense Sang collected more than 150,000 signatures from Balearic citizens in support of this ban to present to the President of Parliament.
The Balearic Islands are not the first province of Spain to put a stop to bullfighting. In 1991, the Canary Islands banned the practice and in 2012 Catalonia also banned bullfighting. Madrid cut government subsidies to bullfights and instead spends more money helping the victims of domestic violence.
Spain is a country known for their barbaric and archaic support of bullfighting (and, as recently reported by True Activist, “The Greyhound Holocaust”). The Balearic Islands, though a province of Spain, are autonomous, which means they are self-governing and simply report back to the capital of Spain. Their decision to move further with banning bullfighting is not only a huge step for a nation steeped in the tradition of this violence against bulls, but hopefully means that a change on Spain’s mainland is not far behind.
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