Bull running, bull fighting, hare coursing, fox hunting - “It’s about time we relegated these shameful practices to the past”. Read John Fitzgerald's Letter in the Belfast News Letter...

Death of man in Spanish bull shows how cruel and dangerous is this practice
Letters, Belfast Newsletter, Nov 4th 2021

The tragic death of a man at a Spanish bull run serves as another reminder of how cruel and dangerous this practice is. It puts both people and animals at high risk of injury or death, and for no reason other than to provide humans with a sporting challenge.

The bull is doomed from the start, because at the end of the run he is taken to a bull ring where he is stabbed repeatedly with darts and lances prior to having his anguish terminated with a matador’s sword.

Both bull running and bull fighting have resumed in Spain after an enforced hiatus due to Covid lockdown.

Unfortunately, the closer bond with animals and nature that marked lockdown for many people worldwide doesn’t seem to have touched the hearts of those involved in blood sports. And Spain doesn’t have a monopoly on cruelty dressed up as tradition or culture.

Covid restrictions had no sooner been eased in Ireland when fox hunts and coursing clubs had resumed their recreational assault on wildlife. Unlike in a bull run, there’s no risk of death or injury to anyone watching a hare being hounded or tossed about like a rag doll, though there might be a risk to mounted hunters as they gallop across country in pursuit of a fox. But for the animals in these human games there is only suffering, agonising injury, or death.

It’s about time we relegated these shameful practices to the past. Covid may on the run from the vaccines, but the deliberate tormenting of animals for human amusement belongs in permanent lockdown.

John Fitzgerald
Co Kilkenny