A Spanish town has cancelled its annual bullfighting festival so it can spend the budget on school books instead.
Villafranca de los Caballeros, which has a population of 5,200, is due to vote on a motion on Thursday which would see the local government redirect the €18,000 subsidy towards school supplies for children instead.
The council, which has a socialist majority, is expected to easily pass the proposal.
The town’s newly elected socialist mayor Julián Bolaños told The Guardian that the issue was not about taking a stance against bull-fighting but rather about prioritising education in the wake of financial cuts.
He said:
It’s a question of priorities. There is a lot of unemployment in this town and many people simply don’t have money to buy school supplies for their children. We’re not against bullfights. But it’s money we can use in other ways.
The news follows last week’s historic ruling in the Spanish town of Trigueros del Valle to give dogs and cats human rights.
Across Spain, around 16,000 fiestas involving bulls take place every year and they remain controversial events, with injuries and deaths of spectators and participants not uncommon, in addition to the issues of animal cruelty.
And this latest news of the cancellation of at least one of these events will be welcomed by animal-rights campaigners everywhere, and has to be considered a victory for both animal welfare and common sense!
