Several French NGOs called out the old Spanish tradition of setting a bull's horns on fire after footage of a bull with his horns on fire went viral on social media.
ADVERTISEMENTFootage of a bull with its horns on fire has shocked several French animal rights NGOs who are calling an end to the practice.
The video shows a bull with its horns on fire falling into a river after breaking a fence in the eastern town of Sagunto during a bullfighting celebration known as “toro embolado” that consists in placing two fireballs on the horns of the animal.
Local authorities took nine hours to rescue the animal because of the high risk of hurting him, said the town’s mayor Darío Moreno on Facebook.
The socialist mayor was criticised for saying the situation had a "good outcome" by those who want the tradition to be suppressed.
The Spanish Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals (PACMA) said in a Facebook post that the incident was also “highly dangerous for the festival’s volunteers who could’ve found themselves in the animal’s way.”
Euronews contacted Sagunto’s mayor’s office to ask about the possible suppression of the controversial bullfighting tradition but has received no answer.
French animal rights NGOs like 30 Millions d’Amis have shared the video on their social networks calling an end to the practice under the hashtag #StopCorrida.
Some Twitter users noted that of some of the same bullfighting traditions are also practised in the French south-west such as Bayonne.
In Valencia, regional celebrations with bullfighting events are very popular. According to officials, there were 8,596 bullfighting events in 2018.