Animal Rights Group: PETA

 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.” He wished that “these cruel and base spectacles of the devil and not of man” be abolished and he forbade attendance at them under penalty of excommunication. (Pius, 1567)
  • Catalonia abolished bullfighting in 2010, and while Spain’s Constitutional Court overturned the Catalan ban in 2016, bullfighting has not returned to the region. (Montero, 2019)
  •  According to a 2016 Ipsos MORI survey, only 19 percent of Spaniards support bullfighting.
  • In Mexico, the states of Quintana Roo, Sonora, Guerrero and Coahuila have banned bullfighting. (2019)

Source Evaluation: 

The fact that PETA uses many references on their website is useful as there is a lot of evidence to backup their arguments. They are therefore reliable, and they have solidified my previous understanding from World Animl Protection. PETA is another charitable organisation, so while their information may be slightly persuasive, they have a responsibility to make it reliable and truthful. Therefore, it is useful to me in my enquiries. 

References: 

PETA, Bullfighting: A Tradition of Charity, bullfighting-tradition-tragedy , peta.org, accessed 9th Feb 2022

Craig Fitzpatrick, “The Business of Bullfighting: A Spanish Moneymaker Or Drain on Taxpayers?”  NewsTalk.com, (peta.org) 11 Apr. 2016.

Pope Pius V, Bullarum Romanorum Pontificum, peta.org, Vol. 4, 2nd Part, 1567, 402–4.

Jonathan Montero et al., “‘Correbous’ – The Survivors of the Catalan Ban on Bullfighting,” El Pais 14 Jan. 2019.

“Bullfighting in Spain,” Ipsos MORI 21 Jan. 2016.

“Quintana Roo Prohibits Bullfights, Cockfights, Sets Rules for Owning Pets,” Mexico News Daily 20 Jun. 2019.

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