Animal rights organization reports town council over ‘correbous’ incident

Several animal rights organizations have reported the Town Council of Vidreres and urged for parliamentary action after a bull-related event on Sunday resulted in 19 injuries.

The incident occurred in the town of Vidreres, in Girona, and saw a bull escape from its pen and charge among the people, injuring 19. Among those affected by the incident, a woman had to be taken to hospital for an emergency operation. 

The bull also had to be shot dead by local police, sparking controversy and subsequent action from animal rights organizations. 

Director of animal rights organization AnimaNaturalis, Aïda Gascón, has threatened that the Council could receive a fine of up to €150,000 for “not guaranteeing the safety of the people and animals” during the event.

Bullfighting ban 

Parliament banned bullfighting in Catalonia in 2010, but allowed for the ‘correbous’ tradition (bulls running through the streets) to continue since the bulls are not killed. Although the Constitutional Court overturned the ban in 2016, there have been no bullfights since for a number of social, political and economic reasons.  

However, Sunday’s incident demonstrated the threat posed by a bull on the charge. Footage shows the bull jump fairly effortlessly into the crowd, causing mayhem among spectators. 

The injuries to the people and the death of the bull indicated that the consequences of ‘correbous’ can be just as severe as bullfighting, and local authorities in Vidreres released a statement saying that the future of the event will be revealed in the coming days.

Animal rights bodies seek action

AnimaNaturalis has already met with other organizations to exert “pressure” on political parties to ban “animal abuse at festivals and traditions in Catalonia.”

Director Gascón also urged MPs to pass a bill to abolish tradition and announced that several animal rights bodies will speak before the press to urge Parliament to push this motion through. 

However, they feel that a popular legislative initiative should be a “last resort” since the “ball is now in the court of the political parties”, but assured that if Parliament did not act, they would be “obligated” to propose a popular legislative initiative.