Should Bullfighting be Made Illegal in Spain?

 I came across a study held by the European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, on the injuries sustained by people who have been in a bullfight. The investigation was carried out to  "present (our) hospital experience with bullhorn injuries" ( García-Marín et al, 2014). It is relatively recent, so I believe this information will be beneficial in understanding to extent of bullfighting injuries to people and therefore understand the danger of the sport in more depth.  They used " A retrospective analysis of patients in our Trauma Registry (1993–2012)" ( García-Marín et al, 2014) , meaning the records should be reliable and detailed. They are also from a broad time period, which will give more evidence. They also explain that there were "15 patients included",  ( García-Marín et al, 2014), explaining the injuries they suffered: The Injury Severity Score (ISS) and New Injury Severity Score were 13.6 ± 6 and 15.9 ± 9, respectively. Seven had an ...

 As I looked into the World Animal Protection organisation yesterday, I wanted to look into PETA today and see their page for as to why bullfighting should be made illegal. This will highlight any similarities or differences between the two and I aim to expand my information on the ethical issues surrounding bullfights.  Their article is "Bullfighting: A Tradition of Tragedy" (PETA, 2022). This title immediately conveys their viewpoint.  They describe that there is "Little competition between a nimble, sword wielding matador, and a confused, maimed, psychologically tormented, and physically debilitated animal", (FitzPatrick, 2016) which is interesting to see because it is what I had already spoken of and concluded in my earlier posts. This tells me that my opinions are being correctly formed.  They list the opposition to bullfighting, which is interesting:  Pope St. Pius V decreed that “spectacles” such as bullfights are “removed from Christian piety and charity...

 I wanted to look into some specific animal rights groups today: I think this is useful because I will be able to specifically name them and use them as examples in my argument as to whether bullfighting should be banned or not. I chose to look into the World Animal Protection page,  https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/campaigns/animals-wild/bullfighting  as they are currently campaigning to stop the sport. Their viewpoint is obviously that bullfighting should be stopped, but I will look into the reasoning for this and also the ways they propose to do this (if they give any).  This organisation seems efficient and official, as it is a charitable organisation asking people for donations. One thing that they highlight on their “Our Guide to Friendly Travel”, (Our Guide to Friendly Travel, World Animal Protection, 2022) page states that “animal cruelty can be a bi product of tourism”, and that we should not “accept culture as an excuse for cruelty”. (World Animal P...

 While I have been updating my progress so far on my original plan, I wanted to do a progress review to enable me to see what stage I am at in my research: I feel that I have researched the specific aspects surrounding bullfighting that I originally wanted to (for example the process and origins). While I researched these in a different order to the one I'd originally intended, I found that my research flowed and I have covered these topics fully.  Furthermore, I have found it particularly beneficial to create posts about articles and studies that I come across that are more general; for example "The Screen: Bullfight". I have found that this approach to my research, where I read about peoples opinions from different times and gain a deeper insight, has refined my understanding of the subject of bullfighting. It has also engaged me, and I feel an even deeper interest and connection with my debate than I did before.  I also feel that I have gained information to make compa...

Source Evaluation:  This study is useful as it offers many statistics, and even more so because it looks into the opinions of Portugese people (as opposed to Spaniards which is what my research so far has primarily focused on). By looking into the opinions and statistics of another country, I will be able to compare and make a more accurate, informed judgement. Portugal is Spains neighbur, so I definitely think it will be useful to see the similarities and differences between the two countries when it comes to bullfighting.  This study is by "Animals Basel" which is an " an international, peer reviewed,  open access journal devoted entirely to animals, including zoology and veterinary sciences, published semimonthly online by MDPI"(Animals, 2011, "Animals"). What is interesting and makes it highly reliable is that it is peer reviewed, meaning that the findings of one person have to be checked by multiple people in the same  field of work before it can be p...