Bullfighting

When, for God's sake, will human beings ever stop being entertained by the torment of an animal! Whether the bull is finally put out of its misery or not, that human beings find 'fun' in watching an animal teased or being "swung around by its tail" is unforgivable in the value systems of mature, humane, civil citizens. Children become desensitized to cruelty to animals by watching adults torment and tease a defenseless creature. Bullfighting, bloodless or otherwise, is a primitive and barbaric ritual and all who participate in this pitiful spectacle of man's inhumanity are guilty of promoting and endorsing it. Shame!

A Spanish bullfighter was badly gored last week, the Associated Press reports, when the bull he was fighting rammed its left horn into his lower jaw, making his eyeball protrude. After being gored, 39-year-old bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla stood up, blood gushing from his face, and was helped from the arena. After a five-hour operation he may be left with facial paralysis and blindness in one eye. While Internet commenters are busy arguing the pros and cons of bullfighting (we'll let you guess which side 99% of the comments are on)

"Foreign Bulls Head for the Middle Kingdom. " "Spanish Matadors Pack Their Bags for Beijing. " "Local Promoters Salivate Over the Prospect of Bloodthirsty Crowds. " The headlines said it all: Bullfighting was coming to China. But a funny thing happened on the way to the bullring. In a country known for its often-brutal treatment of animals and its anything-goes capitalism, a public outcry halted the project in its tracks. Chagrined promoters aren't talking, while emboldened activists voice hope that their win will spur the passage of new laws to strengthen animal rights.

Ask any forcado why he stands unarmed in front of a charging bull and he'll tell you he's crazy. Anyone watching would have to agree. The Portuguese-style bullfighters don't use spears or swords. They rely instead on brotherhood and synchronized steps. They don't try to kill the 1,100-pound animal. They jump on its head, pull its tail and spin it into a dizzy stupor. The forcados make their stand in festa bravas (bullfights) in the dusty dairy towns of Central California, places like Stevinson, Gustine and Laton, where the Azores islanders live.

Men, women and children gathered before dusk Saturday behind the Portuguese community center in Artesia. They packed the bleachers that circle the dirt ring with its high wood walls painted red. The three-day holiday weekend Festa da Bola would be filled with soccer, laughter, food. But on this evening, the main attraction was a bullfight. It was billed as a "bloodless bullfight" -- in which the animal is not killed in the ring.

Several bullfights have been canceled in Spain due to a lack of mounts for the picadores. An outbreak of equine plague has killed 200 horses in the past few days, a spokesman for the bullfighters' association said Friday.

I read and heard about the city of Carson's unfortunate plan to have bullfighting as the theme for their Tournament of Roses parade float. How distasteful! Isn't there enough cruelty and inhumanity and exploitation in this world already without encouraging the acceptance of an ancient medieval barbarism such as the impaling and slaughtering in public of a noble animal, the bull, rendered defenseless by ignoble, inhumane people? Are people in America to be subjected to the re-activation of those inhumane practices such as bullfighting, dog and cockfighting . . . ?

The crowd at Madrid's Las Ventas bullring jeered in protest as yet another overweight black bull wandered around the sand ignoring the matador's attempts to goad him into fighting. "The fiesta is a fraud," muttered one cigar-puffing aficionado. "Get off!" shouted another, adding a sarcastic "Ole!" as the matador swished his cape over the sluggish bull. To the horror of animal lovers, bullfighting is enjoying a new golden age. It drew a record 54 million spectators last year.

I have been enjoying Mike McIntyre's worldly adventures since they started last January. However, his article about bullfighting in Spain, "Learning About Courage and Beauty From the Beast" (The Wander Year, Sept. 24), left me repulsed and amazed. I do not believe in bullfighting, but then, others do. That he attended was fine for him. However, using almost his entire column to graphically describe the inhumane and bloody torture of the animals turned my stomach. It did not help that, in the end, he was sorry he attended.

This letter is to express my disgust and revulsion at the article about Aracelli Gonzalez, who chooses to torture and kill bulls ("The Thrill of the Fight," Jan. 9). Not only is this woman engaging in the utmost cruelty to animals, but she is a first-class hypocrite. She wanted to be a veterinarian. Please. Veterinarians exhibit care and compassion. PAMELA W. MEYERS Woodland Hills I don't care that the matadora portrayed in the article is unique because of her gender and what she does for a living.

A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman Complete Short Stories Margaret Drabble Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 215 pp., $24 Written over a period of 50 years, these stories reveal a great deal about a writer best known for her novels. Organized chronologically by publication year, from 1964 to 2000, the 14 stories describe (clearly without Margaret Drabble's intention to do so) three phases of a woman's life: youth, middle age and old age. In the first few stories, like "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (written when the author was at Cambridge, but not published until 1968 after her reputation was established)

The independence-minded region of Catalonia on Wednesday became the first on the Spanish mainland to outlaw bullfighting, a move some say is as much about nationalist politics as animal rights. Lawmakers in Catalonia's regional parliament approved the controversial ban, 68-55, with nine abstentions, after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for preserving tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty. The ban will take effect in the region, of which Barcelona is the capital, in 2012.

The independence-minded region of Catalonia became the first on the Spanish mainland to outlaw bullfighting Wednesday after impassioned debate. Lawmakers in Catalonia's regional assembly approved the ban after emotional speeches that mixed expressions of support for maintaining tradition with denunciations of bullfighting as institutionalized cruelty. The vote culminated a public initiative to ditch bullfighting that began more than 1œ years ago and has drawn international media coverage.

Fans laid on a hero's welcome when Jose Tomas made a triumphal return to professional bullfighting in Barcelona three years ago, ending a much-lamented retirement. But when Tomas arrives here next month for another comeback of sorts — one of his first engagements since being badly gored in Mexico in April — the celebrated matador could find himself in quite a different position: as an outlaw. Regional lawmakers are expected to decide soon whether to abolish bullfighting once and for all here in Catalonia.

Spanish matador Jose Tomas, one of the world's most famous and dramatic bullfighters, was severely gored by a half-ton bull in a Mexican arena and is in critical condition, doctors said Sunday. Tomas is expected to survive after undergoing more than three hours of emergency surgery overnight following his injury Saturday afternoon. "There has been slight improvement, but he's still in grave condition," Dr. Geronimo Aguayo said in a statement released by Tomas' hospital in the central Mexican city of Aguascalientes.

A little-known Spanish matador is breaking with a sacred tradition, agreeing to advertise on his cape while slaying bulls and endorse a soft drink that caters to gays. Matador Joselito Ortega will be plugging a club-scene energy beverage called Gay Up and have those words embroidered into his cape in large, red cursive letters. In Spain, matadors are seen by many as the pinnacle of macho, and Ortega's endorsement of a product geared toward gay men is raising eyebrows. But Ortega sees no incompatibility.

Several hundred curious spectators watched as China staged its first bullfights Saturday, complete with matadors from Spain and bulls from Mexico. "It's really something different," said city government worker Yu Liang at the event in a soccer stadium in Shanghai's northern suburbs. He then called, "Be careful!" as a bull made another pass at matador Guillermo Alban. Beijing called off a similar event earlier this year in the face of protests. Shanghai went ahead, with some changes.

The best of Spain's bullfighters will go to Moscow next year to fight 30 bulls in a demonstration of their death-defying art, Tass reported. The official news agency said Friday that five bullfights will be staged in June at Luzhniki stadium, which seats 100,000 people.

Men, women and children gathered before dusk Saturday behind the Portuguese community center in Artesia. They packed the bleachers that circle the dirt ring with its high wood walls painted red. The three-day holiday weekend Festa da Bola would be filled with soccer, laughter, food. But on this evening, the main attraction was a bullfight. It was billed as a "bloodless bullfight" -- in which the animal is not killed in the ring.

When Seth "Shorty" Gorham steps into the makeshift arena at the Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo today, his mission will be to protect, at any cost, the cowboys separated from the 2,000-pound bulls they dare to challenge. It's a job he does 44 weekends a year at dozens of rodeos large and small, from Kitsap, Wash., to Madison Square Garden. But this weekend's event will be something of a homecoming for the bullfighter, who was 14 and on his own when he started working at Rancho Mission Viejo.