Rural Diaries - live the country life, love the countryside and learn about rural issues

Posted by Sally on July 13th, 2008 in Animal Welfare, Country Sports

I nipped over to Dawgdogs blog today to read a disturbing story on EU money being used to support bullfighting in Spain.

I haven’t included the bloody details of the bulls death as I feel we are all fully aware of what some call blood sports and others see as blood lust. However I was perplexed to read that our tax money is being spent on this ’sport’.

I make no bones about my views on fox hunting in the UK, living on a farm I accept that the fox population must be controlled but dragging little Daphne on her pony across fields to have her face painted in blood is not my idea of a fun day out. I own horses, I know the joy they bring but would much prefer a decent hack or cross country to chasing down an animal and enjoying seeing it’s death but that is just my personal opinion, each to their own.

I would though object to taxpayers money being used to support the ’sport’ of fox hunting, as a majority of the population is clearly against it, so why would the EU financially support a sport that most of the population of the EU is against?

I also find it offensive that while our farming community struggles to compete with cheap imported produce, because the imports are not subject to the same welfare laws, our tax pounds are being used to support something we would expect a British farmer to end up in court for (ie the slow and brutal torture of a bull).

From the article:

“But what is not known is that our money is being used to finance this ritual slaughter. For I can reveal that the European Union is spending £30million a year to support Spanish bullfights, which this year will kill at least 40,000 bulls.

The EU has even renovated bullrings and is being pressured by the Spanish into recognising bullfighting as representing Europe’s cultural heritage. Such a move would make it virtually impossible to outlaw and indeed would lend it a veneer of respectability in the eyes of the world.

The new system works by paying landowners a fee - or single farm payment - for farming the land in any manner they choose. It’s a way of boosting rural incomes without overproducing food.

In Britain, for example, it may encourage farmers to grow organic wheat and barley. In Spain, the subsidies have been funnelled into the breeding of fighting bulls.

‘The organisers of bullfights in Spain have told me that they love the EU because they now receive enough subsidies to kill 15 or 16 animals in a fiesta rather than the traditional one or two,’ says Tony Moore, veteran campaigner for the welfare group Fight Against Animal Cruelty in Europe.”

The article goes on to explore other delightful ’sports’ in Spain that are being subsidised:

“A favourite fiesta ’sport’ involves hanging chickens upside down by their feet on washing lines. The townsfolk then ride underneath and pull their heads off to win prizes.

Another involves placing chickens in boxes with their heads poking out of the top. Local men and boys then try and chop as many heads off as possible while blindfolded.

Other fiestas involve ‘games’ in which cows are chased into the sea where they drown. Others are equally barbaric, such as the infamous ‘fire-bull’ festivals. In these, burning balls of wax and paraffin are attached to a bull’s horns and the terrified animal is then chased through the streets. There are at least 10,000 fire-bull fiestas every year in Valencia province alone.

Needless to say, many of the animals burn to death. And virtually all of the animals will have been reared with the help of EU subsidies.”

Now is it just me that is confused or can you also see the contradiction in the EU’s laws governing animal welfare on farms? Our farming industry is struggling to support itself and keep up with the welfare issues the tax payers are demanding and yet the same law makers state they are powerless to stop this, despite their desire to do so.

The whole article is here and Dawgs blog is well worth a read if animal welfare is an issue for you.