Support for bullfighting plummets sharply

November 2011. –The numbers are not adding up in the world of bullfighting where the financial crisis is taking its toll on the evil so-called “celebrations” of bullfighting. In 2011 more than 53 per cent of events have been suspended compared to the previous year. Looking further back, 2007 saw 2.4 times as many bullfights as the current year, which in actual numbers translates to 836 fewer events. If we look at August alone we can also see a sharp fall when less than half the number of bullfighting festivities were held than in the same period in 2010. In August 2010, there were 371 bullfighting events and this was reduced to 173 in 2011. In the period January to August, 31.6 per cent of celebrations have fallen from the schedules. This contrasts with the optimism of the failing PSOE (Spanish socialist workers party) who, perhaps hoping to appease the bullfighting lobby, gave responsibility for bullfights to the Ministery of Culture who were then persuaded to offer a prize of 3,000 euros per year for bullfighting. In short, whether bullfight supporter or opposed to these cruel spactacles, the hard facts are that the bullfighting season of this year finishes with a huge surplus of bulls at the breeding farms. This year also sees the final end of bullfights in Catalonia with the ban being implemented from January 2012.