The French arenas not filling up

May 2012. – Bullfighting supporters shun bullfights. This is the headline of the article published in the daily newspaper ‘20 Minutes’ in France. The number of people who attend bullfights in the seven major French bullfighting cities is decreasing year after year. To offset their losses, entrepreneurs have decided to lower the bullkillers fees and thus avoid triggering further deficit of the municipalities that subsidize bullfights. For example, in 2011, the City of Bayonne, had a deficit of 370,000 Euros for the whole of its bullfighting Ferias (Fairs). The bullfighting lobby blames the economic crisis and claim that bullfighting is an outlet for fans in these tough times. However, the opinion of animal protection associations is that the real cause of falling attendances is an unstoppable and fundamental change of mentality that is taking place in society. Increasingly people express a growing disgust at the cruelty of bullfighting which gives increasing weight to the pressure applied by the anti-bullfighting movement.