More councils ban bullfights

The anti-bullfighting group leading the charge to have the sport totally banned in the Balearics, Mallorca Sense Sang (Majorca Without Blood), announced today (Friday) that two more municipalities have voted in favour of outlawing bullfighting and also circuses using animals in their shows. Bunyola and Maria de la Salut have taken the total number of municipalities to have banned bullfights to 26 out of 53, and the two councils have added their voice to the motion which is going to be tabled in parliament that bullfighting is banned across the Balearics.

It is hoped that the left-wing coalition government will rule in favour of the ban. Palma City Council, for example, was one of the first to ban bullfights after the coalition won the local elections in May.

“We are continuing to gain ground and achieve our aim of banning bullfighting in the Balearics. Half of Majorca already supports banning the sport and, as the days and weeks go by, more and more municipalities are joining the campaign Majorca Without Blood,” spokesperson Guillermo Amengual said.

The Mallorca Sense Sang campaign was mounted in 2014 by the animal-rights groups AnimaNaturalis and CAS International, an organisation which is working to ban bullfighting across the globe. Since the end of September four more municipalities have declared themselves against bullfighting: Alaró, Búger, Llucmajor and Maria de la Salut.

The first to do so was Costitx in 2006, while Esporles and Puigpunyent followed in 2009, Consell in 2011. Since then, the campaign has gained increasing momentum. And the list of anti-bullfighting municipalities now numbers 137 worldwide, with 113 municipalities in Spain having declared themselves against bullfighting.