Post date: Feb 03, 2013 10:21:59 PM
Animal rights activists descend on central Mexico City to call for an end to bullfighting as popular opinion on the traditional sport shifts in the sprawling capital.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (FEBRUARY 03, 2012) (REUTERS) - Animal rights protesters stripped down to their underwear and covered themselves with red paint on Sunday (February 03) as part of a silent protest calling onMexico City's local government to ban bullfighting in the sprawling metropolis.
With multi-coloured sticks protruding from their shoulders, protesters lay on the ground in the capital's Republic Plaza imitating the lifeless corpses of bulls slain in the traditional sport.Mexico is one of only eight countries where bullfighting is still legal. The Latin American country has a long tradition with the sport that dates back to Spanish colonial times.
Spokesperson for animal rights group Animanaturalis, Israel Arriola, told Reuters popular opinion on bullfighting has changed in the capital.
"The majority of people that live in the capital (Mexico City), more than 70 percent, support this initiative because it (bullfighting) is an act of mistreatment and cruelty against animals and furthermore is promotes negative values in society. More than 80 percent of people that live in the capital associate bullfighting with negative ideas such as animal mistreatment, danger, violence and abuse," he said.
Last month, Mexico City's local government passed a law punishing animal cruelty with jail. Encouraged by the move, animal activists are looking to extend the legislation to bullfighting, arguing the bloody sport causes excessive suffering as bulls fight to the death against matadors.
The Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia abolished bullfighting in 2011. Dozens of other regions of France, Portugal, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador have also declared themselves "anti-bullfighting" municipalities.