Simon Hunter
THE PUBLIC prosecutor has opened an investigation into possible animal cruelty offences, after a video went viral of a fighting bull violently goring three steers in the small village of Barbastro in Huesca province, Aragon region.
The scene played out in the local bullring, which was sparsely occupied at the time, but with many youngsters in the stands for a so-called ‘children’s show’.
The recording shows the three steers trotting around the ring, before a fighting bull is released from a box.
The animal then comes charging out, before violently goring and flipping the three much smaller steers with its horns, to screams from the crowds.
The footage was shared on X (formerly Twitter) this Friday by Guadalajara Antitaurina, an association campaigning for the abolition of bullfighting across Spain.
“This terrible video from Barbastro (Huesca) has just arrived,” the accompanying message read. “Very, very shocking images. This has to end, if we don’t raise our voices from each municipality, we are giving space to these insane people so that they can continue with their carnage.”
Spain’s caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz of the leftist Sumar alliance added her voice of disapproval on the social network.
“The images we see of Barbastro do not represent the Spain of 2023,” she wrote. “Calling these events a ‘children’s show’ is truly outrageous and cannot be repeated.”
The mayor of the village, Fernando Torres of the conservative Popular Party (PP), tried to play down the incident, calling it ‘completely isolated’ and reporting that the steers were in a ‘perfect condition’.
“The steers were later treated by vets and are all in a perfect condition,” he said, in comments reported by Spanish daily El Pais.
The public prosecutor for environmental cases on Friday ordered the Civil Guard’s Seprona nature unit to begin an investigation to determine whether animal cruelty offences may have been committed.
For its part, the PP in Barbastro issued its own criticism of Yolanda Diaz for her tweet condemning the incident, saying that it was ‘surprising and outrageous’ that she would ‘twist’ the events without ‘properly being informed’ about what happened, news agency Europa Press reported.
Read more:
- Bulls roam free on Spain’s A-3 motorway in Valencia after transport truck overturns
- Woman, 74, left hospitalised in Valencia region after bull escapes and rampages through streets
- Bull gores 21-year-old man to death at local fiestas in Toledo province
