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Hindus ask for bullfighting ban in Spain

Hindus want a complete ban on practice of bullfighting (corrida) in Spain after matadors were gored by bulls at the opening event of Madrid’s bullfighting season on May 20 evening.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Spain should follow the example of its regions Catalonia and Canary Islands and ban the age-old tradition of bullfighting altogether; which he described as barbaric, inhumane, horrendous, cruel and unacceptable. Spain could easily find other ways to entertain its citizens and visitors, Zed added.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged other countries of the world to outlaw bullfighting practice. European Union should impose a Europe-wide ban on all blood-sports. People, whose jobs were thus affected, should be rehabilitated in other jobs with related training.

Rajan Zed stressed that non-violence was a greatest virtue. We had long been out of the caves. Let us get rid of these outdated traditions. World would be a better place without these blood-sports.

Bullfighting was just plain cruelty and unnecessary tormenting and abuse of the animals and not an art form, Zed pointed out. Bullfighting ban took effect in Catalonia from January one, 2012, while it has already been banned in Canary Islands since 1991. Spain holds an estimated about 2,000 bullfights annually and has granted it a cultural heritage status.

Besides Spain, bullfighting is also practiced in France, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Colombia, and Venezuela. A typical bullfight usually is of 20 minutes in which a bull is stabbed several times before the final blow with a sword pushed between its shoulder blades. Said to dating back over 4,000 years, Nobel Prize winner author Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) mentioned bullfighting tradition in his work “Death in the Afternoon”.

According to Utrecht (The Netherlands) based CAS International: It is estimated that worldwide more than 250,000 bulls, cows and calves are abused and slain during bullfights and similar events every year.