You should take the time to learn about the bulls before you condemn the sport.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

Background ¦ Your reaction

The Background:

The writer Ernest Hemingway described bullfighting as "not a sport but a tragedy", and accorded it the status of Art.

It was the quintessence of man's destiny, he wrote, to confront and overcome his fear of death.

However others are somewhat less lyrical about it - and, as the bullfighting season begins again in Spain, the Europewide debate asks if Bullfighting has you caught on the horns of a dilemma?

Background ¦ Your reaction

Your Reaction:

Stop the bleeding hearts whinging about bullfighting. Brits: Look to your country's fox hunting. Americans: Defend your gun law if you can. Leave the Spanish their culture.
Jeremy, UK

Ask the bull who has been tormented an stressed to the extreme and who ultimately dies in a pool of blood and in agony if Bull fighting is beautiful. Beauty is in art, in kindness and in love not in blood sport.
Rosie Kane, Scotland

It should be abolished. It is a cruel and horrendous sport that supports the act of cruelty to animals!
Em Wright, England

Like everything else in this world there is a beauty to even bullfighting. The bigger question is, whether it is fits in a civilised world. In my opinion it does not. It's no different from killing an elephant for ivory or shooting down a tiger to decorate your home. Both are dastardly acts and we have taken the right steps to ban them. So why not bull fighting?
Sriram R Maris, Netherlands

Bullfighting is a cruel and unpleasant spectacle and it is time to end it.
Paul Dodwell, Gibralter and Spain

Whether the matador looks pretty in his clothes and moves gracefully is immaterial. Let him take up ballet dancing. The truth is that an animal is tortured to death. The screams of the bull are drowned out by the blood lust driven noise of the crowd. I walked out in disgust but was even more disgusted to realise I was the only person to walk out.
Jane Hughes, Australia

No! Bullfighting is another form of animal abuse. I think it is pretty ugly to see that an intelligent animal (i.e., the human) is taking advantage of another less intelligent animal (i.e., the bull) for its joy.
Askiner Gungor, USA

I have followed bullfighting in Ecuador and Mexico and am well versed in its traditions and mechanisms. I recently saw Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza the Rejoneador (bullfighting on horseback), and what a spectacle it was. I even listen to Paso Dobles in my home (bullfighting music). However, I am civilised enough to know that torturing and killing an animal is indicative of a degraded culture. The lust for blood nurtured by this sport is not without social consequences. Take it from someone who made an effort to understand and enjoy the sport with an open mind, bullfighting is barbaric. Also, my species is at the top of the food chain and I enjoy eating a thick steak. Killing animals for the sake of watching a slow and painful death is not comparable to killing an animal for food.
Alex Arango, USA

God created all living creatures with equal rights of freedom. All the animals & humans have freedom. Man doesn't have right to kill any animal for eating or sports. Man didn't create the world, God created it. Man doesn't have right to kill or torture any animals.
B.Ganedran, Sri Lanka

I see absolutely nothing beautiful in grown men prancing around in brightly coloured clothes torturing an innocent animal. It has never held any appeal to me and it never will.
Chris, usa

I admit to finding bullfighting (a blood sport) an incredibly exciting spectacle, although as a Christian and vegetarian it makes me 'uncomfortable'. As a practical point: I think that society's level of aggression is pretty constant, and that it is better taken out openly in blood sports (+boxing), than in other more corrupting ways: teenage gangs, wife beating, fights down the pub, treating subordinates at work poorly, romanticising war etc.
Anna Wiseman, UK

Beautiful, emotional and very cruel. Spanish opinion will change in time.
stuart white, UK

It is a revolting spectacle which should long ago have been consigned to the dark pages of history, along with bear baiting and public torture and executions. I wish the European Parliament would do something useful for once and ban this barbaric "sport".
Grant, UK

Of course there is beauty in bullfighting, just like there is beauty in the wondrous mushroom of light characterising a nuclear explosion. But in both cases, beauty does not exclude the fact that they are abominations. The devil always appears in beauteous guise.
Nicolas Jarraud, Europe

No No No. Bullfighting is barbaric, there is no justification for subjecting any of God's creatures to this kind of cruelty. If people wish to "confront and overcome" their fear of death let them do it by climbing mountains, driving fast cars or boxing - but NOT by destroying other forms of life to indulge their own hedonism.
John, England (currently Japan)

The fighting bulls have been bred for centuries so they are nothing but fighting machines. Fighting bulls have little in common with domestic cattle. You should take the time to learn about the bulls before you condemn the sport.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

Beauty in Bullfighting? Never! I understand that it forms a deep-rooted part of the Spanish culture but this doesn't mean it's right. It's not even a fair fight either. I have heard that Vaseline (or some similar substance) is smeared into Bull's eyes to impair their vision in the fight. And being speared in the back first must be very painful and stressful indeed to the animal. However, we shouldn't just pick out Bullfighting to criticise. Other countries including the UK, are certainly no kinder to their animals - fox hunting is a prime example in the UK. Blood sports should be stopped.
Anna Larke, UK

I have never watched a bull fight so probably have no right to comment. I can believe that it is an exciting spectacle. Also, that there is a great deal of skill involved. To this I have no objections. However, I dislike the idea of the bull's slow and bloody death. Why doesn't some enterprising person put on 'non-fatal' bull fights. You can still have the spectacle, you can still have the skill of the matador but, instead of sticking spears into the bull's hide have some sort of stick on markers. These would indicate an even greater skill as they would show how close the person was to the bull and would only count if they were on the vital points of the body.
M Headey, UK

Beauty? I guess an argument could be made that the bullfighters in their tight costumes are beautiful, in a homo-erotic kind of way. Personally, I think the way we treat the bulls is barbaric, as is a lot of our treatment of many animals. The more we develop our sensitivity to animals the less likely we will accept such treatment of our fellow humans.
Tom, Australia

Bullfighting is an art of life. It portrays all mankind's fears and accomplishments while facing the charge of life, that represent the bull. I find bullfighting the ultimate challenge, you have to be strong and daring to face a raging bull eye to eye; I cannot imagine the world without bullfighting. It's an art worth enjoying forever.
David , USA

People who eat meat are hypocritical when they object to the cruelty in the sport. The bulls lead a better life overall than the factory-farmed animals which end up on your plate. They are too hyped-up on adrenaline to feel pain when they die. Having said that, modern bullfighting is a risk-free farce with no beauty whatsoever.
Alan Danes, UK

I understand that bull fighting is part of Spanish culture, but so was Bear or Dog-Baiting in Britain and the US. People evolve and there is no shame in discarding a tradition that involves suffering and unnecessary pain for animals.
Mohammad Jahan-Parvar, USA

For all the ceremony and the richly decorated uniforms of the toreros, picadors, etc. it all boils down to agility and strength. The sight of banderillas sticking out of a bull's shoulders, its blood running copiously is not an event for celebration in my book. However, when the bull wins, I guess there is a status quo. The one thing to be said for bullfighting, it is honestly about man versus beast rather than a gaggle of chinless wonders chasing over the countryside with dogs, terrifying a very small creature and using the excuse of "there are just too many - this is being kind." Bullfighting isn't pretty, but it's honest and it doesn't pretend to be something it isn't. It has a tremendous history and is an important part of the fabric of Spain. Until we do away with hunting bear, deer, pheasant, grouse, and foxhunting for "sport", we just don't have the right to judge.
Di Stewart, USA

Is there beauty in Bullfighting? This question reminds me of hearing a paedophile describing having sex with children as being 'something very beautiful'. Anyone who can witness such atrocities as Bullfighting, Foxhunting and Hare Coursing without a shred of compassion for their victims are no better than the Nazi guards manning the Concentration Camps during the War, who saw their victims lives as equally expendable. Many will disagree strongly with that statement, but how many times have we heard that serial killers started out early as Animal abusers? Killing for pleasure is killing for pleasure, no matter how you try to draw 'intellectual' divisions between whether it's a Human or an Animal.
Paul Clare, UK

It is beautiful. But I reserve the right to cheer for the bull.
Ruben McFalls, USA

When I studied in Spain, I watched various corridas and as I see it, it is part of a local culture. It is not we who should condemn a bullfight. The Spaniards have to choose whether they want this kind of sport. Personally, I do not see it as a sport but I see it as a deep-rooted culture. And if you see the whole action it has a sort of beauty in it, a bloody one, but an interesting one.
Mancuso, Togo

Only when the bull wins!
Dom, USA

Is there any skill? Is there any courage? Is there any beauty? None whatsoever. Spoken by someone who understands the fight sequence. It's a bit like sending children up chimneys. We used to do it, but do so no longer. So this should apply to bullfighting.
Ken UK

It is brutal, cruel, inhuman and has to be banned. I am overjoyed when a bull fatally wounds its tormentor.
Unal Unsal, Turkey

I don't believe that watching a bull with so many spears stuck all over it and seeing all that blood all over the place can be beautiful. Much less if the Matador misses the vital spots and starts stabbing the poor animal in all the wrong places, which in turn causes the bull so much pain. It's a disgusting sport and should be done away with.
Shirley Bennett, USA

If anyone thinks there is beauty in bullfighting, let's stab the bullfighter and see his reactions. Koreed Imam, USA

You should ask the bulls. If you dare.
Dan, New Zealand

Of course there is beauty and there is courage, and there is art. A bullfighter is a ballet dancer confronting danger and fear. Anybody who does not like bullfighting has never seen a Boxing Match ? England and USA have the biggest, meanest of them all and they do not allow bullfighting.
Lenis, USA

Is there beauty in bullfighting? I didn't think that there was anybody left stupid enough to think it beautiful.
Eleanor James, England

There may be something beautiful about death and suffering to someone with a rather overblown Romantic imagination, but this isn't a view which most reasonable people share, and it isn't a reason to condone bullfighting.
Mark Purcell, UK

It's simply a blood sport. There's no beauty in that.
Joan Lisa, USA

No but there IS beauty in bulls - I have reared them all my life and feel they deserve more respect.
Andrew Jackson, UK

Yes, in the courage and skill of the matador there is beauty. However there is more ugliness, gore and immorality in the death of the bull.
Wendy, UK

There is beauty in bullfighting, but none in bull torture or bull killing.
RH Morgan, USA

There is far too much misunderstanding and rubbish written and spoken about bull fighting. The British claim to be a lover of animals yet I do not see a massive decrease in the number of beasts slaughtered for consumption each year. Those ignorant enough to say that at least those animals killed for food are done so humanely have never been to a slaughterhouse. Indeed we do not even like the words and have to call them abattoirs. It is nothing but the usual hypocrisy. Of course bull fighting is an art and is indeed a great spectacle. Long may it continue and let us stop this ceaseless interference of other countries' cultures and rights.
Stephen Ainsworth, England

Of course there is beauty in bull-fighting. As well as excitement, skill, athleticism and all the usual elements that go to make up a mass-audience "sport". Otherwise it would not be so popular. However, that doesn't stop it being a repulsive spectacle that should be banned immediately.
Graeme, Scotland

As a Professor of Animal Psychology I find it very disturbing that such a question should ever be asked. Bull Fighting represents all that is wrong with certain countries' attitudes to animals. Not only do they suffer greatly, the primeval pleasure derived from such activity shows that such individuals have to evolve out of the Stone Age.
Prof. Andrew Feather, England

At the beginning of every bull fight, ten cattle destined for the slaughterhouse should be brought to the arena and killed in the same manner as we dispose of then in our abattoirs. The crowd would then see the total inhumanity of the bull "fight", and the activity would soon lose its appeal amongst 'normal' people.
Outlawing bull "fighting" is not the answer as people would still carry the perverse desire to see the animals killed by sport. These people must be taught like children, to respect life a little more than they currently do.
Martin Adams, UK

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