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Semi Naked Protesters against Bullfighting The Semi Naked activists laid in front of Palma City Hall. Credit: AnimaNaturalis. A group of activists from AnimaNaturalis and CAS International stripped half naked in Palma to demand an end to bullfighting in the Balearic Islands. As bullfighting season began in the Plaza de Toros in Palma, the animal rights group, AnimaNaturalis, supported by local protest group Mallorca Against Bullfighting held the demonstration outside Palma City Hall on Sunday, August 6. According to official data from the Ministry of Culture, the number of bullfighting shows in the bullring has maintained a sustained decline from...

Hundreds injured, multiple dead after bull-fighting stadium collapses in Colombia

Shocking footage shows the moment a man suffered a fatal injury when he was gored by a charging bull. Jorge Barrios died after taking part in Colombia’s ‘corralejas’ bullfighting event, which has attracted criticism from animal rights campaigners. Quit your job because the Mega Millions jackpot is now $450m During the festival, a large number of contestants bait the animal with red capes before dodging out of the way at the last second. But Barrios, thought to be a construction worker, was not able to move out of the way in time in the arena in Sincelejo. In the video,...

Bullfighter Ivan Fandiño was gored to death Saturday afternoon by a bull of the stockbreeding ranch of Baltasar Iban in the French city of Aire Sur L’Adour, the communications department of the Basque matador told EFE. Fandiño, 36, was feinting the bull with his cape when he tripped, and as he fell defenseless to the ground, the animal gored him in the side. He was taken immediately to the infirmary, and from there to a hospital in Mont de Marsa, where nothing could be done to save his life. Spain’s king and queen expressed their sorrow for the death of...

Barcelona's last bullfighting ring has been earmarked to become Europe's largest mosque - just a few streets away from the city's famous Roman Catholic church La Sagrada Familia. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has reportedly expressed an interest in funding the transformation of La Plaza Monumental into a mosque housing as many as 40,000 worshippers. If the €2.2 billion, or £1.8 billion, scheme is approved by city planners the historic arena, which has been empty since staging its last bullfight in September 2011, would become the biggest mosque in Europe.

...On Saturday villagers from western Kenya town of Khayega held a bull fighting contest between a 900 pound (410 kilogram) black bull they named Obama and a black and white 1,000 pound (460kg) bull they named Mitt Romney. Both are cattle breeds indigenous to Kenya. Despite being smaller in size, Obama was the overwhelming favorite having won six of his last fights and he did not disappoint. After close to half an hour the bulls were separated and Obama was declared winner. Happy villagers burst onto the streets in song and dance rejoicing the victory, some carrying placards reading "Obama...

Spanish public television showed dramatic images of screaming spectators, including children, frantically trying to avoid the animal after it hurdled a security barrier that surrounds the arena as well as a fence and clambered into the crowded stands. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening in the bullring in the town of Tafalla, in the Navarra region. Some 30 people were injured, the local Diario de Navarra newspaper said. Most suffered cuts and bruises or shock, but one man was gored in the back and a 10-year-old boy was being examined at a hospital in the nearby town of Pamplona after...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Lawmakers in Catalonia outlawed bullfighting Wednesday, making it Spain's first major region to ban the deadly, centuries-old ballet between matador and beast after heated debate that pitted animal rights against a pillar of traditional culture. Cheers broke out in the local 135-seat legislature after the speaker announced the ban had passed 68-to-55 with nine abstentions. The ban will take effect in 2012 in the northeastern coastal region whose capital is Barcelona. Catalonia is a powerful, wealthy area with its own language and culture and a large degree of self-rule. Many in Spain have seen the pressure here...

Cowardly matador arrested for fleeing ring A Mexican matador was arrested for breaching his contract after losing his nerve and running from the bullring. Terrified Christian Hernandez dropped his red cape and ran from the charging bull during an event at the Plaza Mexico in Mexico City on Sunday. The 22-year-old vaulted over the protective wall at the side of the ring as the crowd hooted and whistled in derision. He was briefly persuaded back into the bullring by organisers but gave up before coming face to face with half-ton beast and skulked from the ring a second time. He...

WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC - Here is shocking video of a Spanish matador, who was in the process of finishing off a Bull, suddenly finding himself on the losing end of the fight. The matador stumbled, and the Bull got his revenge: A matador cheated death by millimetres when the beast he was tormenting rammed its horn straight through his chin and out through his mouth. . .

At least 80 people were injured during a bullfight in Colombia when stands in an overcrowded stadium collapsed underneath the crowd. Some 500 spectators screamed in panic and scrambled for safety as, following the collapse, the bull charged towards crowds at the stadium in Planadas, in the south of the country. Two men dressed as clowns tried to distract the bull and tempt it away from the mass of people before others joined them in trying to pin it down. The dramatic events at the annual fiesta were caught live on television and an investigation into how it happened has...

Ginnie James, who has died aged 67, was a feisty yet warm-hearted figure, equally at home in the bullrings of Portugal and the racing villages of the Lambourn Valley. One of the high points of her life came in 1961, when she decided she wished to become a bullfighter. Aged 21 she took herself to Portugal, immersing herself in the culture and being taken under the wing of one of the most prominent families in the largely closed world of Portuguese bullfighting (which differs from the Spanish version in that the bull is killed away from the ring). Determined to...

VALLE DE SANTIAGO, Mexico (Reuters) - The rousing trumpet music, the swish of the cape and the shouts of "Ole!" as the bull charges are all familiar to anyone who has seen a bullfight. The unnerving thing in the bullring at this dusty central Mexican town is that bull and bullfighter are standing eye to eye, both about four feet high. The Mexican "dwarf bullfighters" are carrying on a tradition born in Spain along with regular bullfighting, as well as an even longer legacy of "little people" as entertainers. But they say the ring showcases their skill and comic artistry,...

VALLE DE SANTIAGO, Mexico (Reuters) - The rousing trumpet music, the swish of the cape and the shouts of "Ole!" as the bull charges are all familiar to anyone who has seen a bullfight. The unnerving thing in the bullring at this dusty central Mexican town is that bull and bullfighter are standing eye to eye, both about four feet high. The Mexican "dwarf bullfighters" are carrying on a tradition born in Spain along with regular bullfighting, as well as an even longer legacy of "little people" as entertainers. But they say the ring showcases their skill and comic artistry,...

<p>MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Several hundred animal rights activists -- some in their underwear, others topless -- marched through the streets of Pamplona Monday to condemn bullfighting on the eve of the Spanish city's wildly popular running of the bulls.</p>

BARCELONA today became the first city in Spain to ban bullfighting after a massive campaign by human rights activists against the "cruel practice". Protests were held in the Catalan capital as councillors took the vote at city hall, with demonstrators waving placards declaring "Barcelona against bullfighting". Animal rights groups had collected 250,000 signatures from around Europe which they handed in to Barcelona's city hall last month. The petition was an initiative by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and Spanish animal rights groups, appalled at the killing of dozens of bulls each year at Barcelona's La Monumental...

MEXICO CITY -- Bullfighting has long been as much a part of Mexican culture as tequila and tacos. For decades after it was built in 1946, the Plaza Mexico filled its 42,000 seats almost every Sunday during bullfighting season. Spectators crowded into the world's biggest bullring to scream olé! as they witnessed another beast's demise. But a clash between the operator of the Plaza Mexico bullring and lawmakers over the rules governing public events in this city has halted amateur bullfighting this season, which is a training ground for future stars. Unless the issue is resolved soon, it threatens the...