Easy Bull Poll
 

A friend of mine recently went on a "study abroad" trip to Cancun with eleven other students and a professor. On their first night, they saw a bullfight. I attempted to explain (before she left) what actually happens during a bullfight. She didn't believe me.

It turns out that NONE of them knew that the bull dies at the end???

Poll question 1: Do you know what a bullfight entails?

Poll question 2: Do you know that the bull dies at the end?

Well, I thought I knew what a bullfight entailed but I did not know the bull died at the end. So I guess I don't know what it entails!

My understanding has always been that the matador is required to entice the bull around in a "dance" of sorts around the ring. In the process, he stabs the bull in the back with those big dart things which you see sticking out of the bulls back. The idea being that being stabbed with darts will anger the bull and make a better show out of him. I think this is where the matador waves the cape around for a while to tire the bull out. Then, finally, once the matador has "mastered" the bull, he stabs it with the final dart, thus killing it.

I have no idea how close I am to the truth, but that's what I always thought happens. :(


.....Kelly :)

That's just about right. The "darts" are spears that wound and anger the animal. As time wears on, the toreadors race around and the bull gets weaker until the matador pulls out a sword and stabs the bull, killing it. In the case of my friend, the bull was stabbed multiple times in the head, though the death blow can be placed elsewhere.

Also, what people don't always know is that the bulls are sometimes beaten before the "fight" begins to anger them more.

I've known how bullfights end for a while. I really wonder what's wrong with people who think that torturing and killing animals is supposed to qualify as entertainment.

I went to Mexico City with our Spanish Club in 11th grade and the trip included going to an amateur bull fight. The bulls actually won a few of the rounds. In one, the bull tossed the matador out of the arena. In another, the bull trampled the matador. In the last one, the matador did kill the bull. I did know that the bull was supposed to be killed, what I didn't know was that they then tied up the bull to a VW Bug (an original, not one of the new ones, as this was back in '82) and dragged it out of the stadium. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. I was horrified that two of the matadors were severely injured (one of them possibly killed, although nobody ever announced whether they were ok or not).

Definitely a strange sport.

Dee

It depends on where the bull fight is.

In Spain, they do kill the bull. Kind of bloody, but they're bulls, they're purpose is to die for us, so I really don't get overemotional about it. The bullfighter basically sticks these spear things in the bull with cloth on them to soak up the bulls blood. This is supposed to piss the bull off -- in actuallity, it just weakens the bull b/c of blood loss. Then the bullfighter will stab the bull with his sword. If he's good, he makes a good show out of it.

In Portugul and other countries, I think they just stick the bull with 6 or so of those spear things and call that a 'victory'.

To each his own.

YES

and

YES

However I only knew this when my parents were telling me story of their Bullfight experience in Spain. My mum and dad knew what a bull fight entailed but ahd know idea they killed the bull at the end.

My best friend has lived in Spain for a few years & now that she graduated she has moved there. The first thing she called to tell me once she originally arrived in Spain was about the bullfights & how inhumane it is!

"they're purpose is to die for us": I'll ignore the whole they're thing, but who decided this purpose? And who said it was simply dying?

-Rudey

Yes and
Yes.

It seems inhumane to us, but we did not grow up in that culture and do not know the history behind it (and I'm sure there are many people in countries with bullfighting who feel it is inhumane as well).

Bulls are big and scary but I'm much more afraid of the mama cows who are overprotective of their babies and charge my dad when he's tagging and giving the calves their antibiotics. They're just mean.

Okay, I did know all about the bull fights, but I dont' know why I never knew they die at the end. I guess I was hoping for the best!

ETA: I had heard that they sometimes beat up the bull before the fight...personally I think the whole thing is just disgusting. But whatever.

Apparently I didnt either, but I dont condone bull fighting or any other kind of nonsense like that regarding animals(dog fighting and cock fighting rings are constantly broken up around here), including the running of the bulls in Spain.