What are the arguments for and against bullfighting?
Aficionados say that bullfighting is a celebration of the power and intelligence of the bull. It is a survival of a rivalry, and love-affair, between man and beast, which goes back to primeval times. Fighting bulls belong to a race of cattle which would disappear without La Corrida, sadly reducing the range of biological diversity. The bulls are bred to fight. They enjoy fighting. They feel little pain. Opponents of bullfighting say that it is a barbarous relic of an uncivilized past, the equivalent of bear-baiting or cock-fighting. If the bulls are keen to fight, why are they often goaded into anger and aggression before being released into the ring? If the contest is a noble meeting of man and beast, why are the odds so carefully stacked on the side of the man? There is an enormous, moral difference between animals being slaughtered humanely in private for food and killed in public for entertainment. Is there any real chance of bullfighting being banned or restricted in France? In th
