BULLFIGHTING - FALLING ON HARD TIMES

by Kyle Smith, Doberman On The Diamond

Remember the good old days when you were a kid and you looked forward to getting out of school each day so you could run home and watch bullfighting? Me neither, but some kids do. They live in one of those countries where a nice meal consists of two beetles and a glass of brown "water," but still, they took joy out of it. Unfortunately for them (but fortunately for the bulls), bullfighting is under attack for, well, stabbing animals repeatedly.

This news comes from Spain:

"A new study just published by the Altarriba Foundation is set to strengthen growing opposition to bullfighting in Spain by revealing that every Spanish family is paying 47 € a year to support the so-called ‘National Fiesta’ ... Altarriba Foundation spokesperson, Matilde Figuroa, commented that in the end the bullfighters will almost be public civil servants."

By the way, 47 Euros is about $66 in America.

All this comes after a state run broadcast company took bullfighting off the air for the first time in 51 years, though some people aren't happy about it.

Meanwhile, in France, opposition to bullfighting is gaining legs:

"Zaradny, the president of the anti-corrida committee, sees signs of growing opposition. The mainstream media in France has taken up her cause and French celebrities also have been signing anti-corrida petitions. Major cities, including Marseille and Barcelona, have banned bullfights altogether."

Then there's this in South Korea - performance bonuses! It's not bullfighting in the traditional sense, as the article explains that the bulls "fight each other by locking horns and trying to push each other backwards. The first beast to back off is the loser."

Still, the better they do, the more ca$h they see:

"South Korea's rare fighting bulls are to get a performance-based "salary" to prevent them bashing each other too badly in the ring.

Each of the 100 or so bulls competing in the league at Jinju, a town near the central south coast, will get between five million won (5,400 dollars) and 10 million in the first year of the scheme."

So, apparently it's getting a lot better to be born a bull nowadays. Less getting stabbed, and more money. Seems like a win-win to me.