English-México Antitaurino

México Antitaurino (Anti-bullfighting Mexico) is a non-profit organization which has grouped together individuals and associations who share the same purpose, aimed at the eradication of bullfighting, whether with full grown bulls, “novilladas”, (young bulls), “pamplonadas” (running of the bulls), “rejoneadores” (bullfithing on horseback) and other similar spectacles, where bovines and equines are tortured, abused and killed for the sole and morbid entertainment of thoughtless and senseless people who, in many cases, attend these events inebriated or smuggle their own drinks.
Although working intensively and in a more organized manner since June 2007, many of our members have extensive experience and years of actively working on behalf of the rights of animals, mainly in the struggle against bullfighting.
As this practice is deeply rooted in some Hispanic countries - Mexico not being the exception - the undertaking to eradicate it, is enormous and we need all the help we can get. To counteract its barbaric effects, we are now inviting individuals and/or groups interested in the implementation of educational, media coverage, legal actions and otherwise, always in a peaceful way, and by means of adequate sensible planning based on team work, in order to ban this uncivilized so called “tradition”, the least befitting the Roman Circus.
We are constantly in touch with, and always looking for more, akin organizations in the world to tackle the diminishing or increment of related cruelty spectacles, to be able to program joint pertinent actions that would lead to the achievement of our goals.
Our site includes, besides a short description of our organization, its members and its work, news, events, photo-galleries, interviews, specific working areas - which can be joined by those interested in the different areas –as well as information on the deceiving language and twisted reasoning commonly argued by pro-bullfights with the intent to conceal the whole truth about the entire matter.
We count upon the help from our psychologists and criminologists advisors to learn more about the different personalities and pathologies of bullfighters, stockbreeders and the audience that supports them. Likewise, we constantly consult recommended material in order to be fully versed on the subject and be prepared to take action on behalf of all living creatures which are, with impunity, tortured and murdered for the sole purpose of the amusement of a few so-called “humans”.

Mistreating an animal will carry a penalty of three months up to six years of imprisonment if the amendment to the 350a Law of the criminal code is passed, informed PRD deputy Julio César Moreno yesterday.

The Chairman of the Justice Procurement and Administration Commission of the Legislative Assembly of Mexico City (ALDF) pointed out that it is crucial to combat violence against animals due to the fact that it could later develop into violence against people.

According to the proposed bill, anyone who mistreats an animal or commits cruel acts against animals of any species that form a plague without inflicting any injury will be given a penalty of three months up to one year of imprisonment and a fine of 100 up to 300 days’ minimum wages and, if the animal were injured, the penalty would be of one up to two years of imprisonment. If these acts of abuse or cruelty ended in the death of the animal, the attacker would be assessed a penalty of two up to six years of imprisonment and a fine of 500 up to a thousand days’ minimum wages.

Furthermore, the proposed bill determines that all the animals that the attacker has under his care and control will be seized and taken into custody by duly registered protective associations while the legal destiny of the animals is determined.

Animal abuse is described as not feeding the animal properly or adequately, making him work non-stop or when he is sick or injured, stimulating him with drugs, not providing him a proper haven or shelter, keeping him permanently confined or tied or in a place that lacks space, among other conducts.

Acts of cruelty refer to vivisection, mutilation, surgery without proper anaesthetic, animal experimentation or abandonment in situations that pose a risk to the animals or to other people.

Other penalized acts of cruelty involve killing an animal while breeding, hurting or intentionally running over an animal, torturing him or making him suffer just for vengeance, hatred or fun.

On 26th February 2002 the Law protecting animals was published in the Gazette of the Government of Mexico City, whose code is still pending.

According to this bill, animal abuse is any act or omission that causes pain or suffering to an animal, that risks or affects his health or that overexploits his work.

Translated by: María Guadalupe Zamorano

The project was launched with almost 100% of its floor space rented and a 70-million-euro investment

Barcelona. (EUROPA PRESS).- ‘Las Arenas’ bullring opens its doors again as a shopping mall on Thursday. Vitalino Nafría, the chairman of Metrovacesa and Jordi Hereu, the mayor of Barcelona will attend the inauguration.

The project was launched with almost 100% of its floor space rented. Just a few shops remain to be revamped or let out according to what the construction company has said to Europa Press.

The old Spanish bullring started undergoing major renovation in November 2009 after nine months of stoppage due to lack of funding, and after Sacresa, the construction company that began the project, handed over to Metrovacesa, who has invested 70 million euros in the project.

Las Arenas de Barcelona covers an area of 104.576 sq metres of construction and has 116 shops on six storeys, three of which will be used for shopping and the other three for leisure.

The shopping mall features a Mercadona supermarket and a Fnac shop which stand out because of their size, as well as Desigual, Mango and Calvin Klein shops, and the eighth Nespresso boutique in Catalonia. In addition, the leisure area will have a multiplex cinema with 12 screens belonging to the Balaña group, a thermal and sports centre of the Metropolitan chain and a Flaqué convention centre measuring 2 600 sq metres.

The highlight of the mall will be a cupola 27 metres high where the restoration will take place, with seven offices administered by Catalonian, national and international groups. The mall will also have an underground car park with 1750 parking spaces and 500 spaces for motorcycles.

Moreover, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will occupy most part of the connected building where its offices will be located, and where the Barcelona city council also has some reserved offices.

On a radio interview, French Minister for Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand commented that the controversial inclusion of the bullfights in the French intangible heritage “wasn’t that important” and that “he would undoubtedly remove them from such list”.

While there are some societies capable of acknowledging their destructive traditions and modifying harmful attitudes over a few generations; there are others that resist this change under the excuse of regarding abusive practices as traditions or false nationalisms.

The Roman Circus, the Inquisition and human sacrifices have been left far behind and today no one would dare to suggest that we should bring them back; however, the people who like cockfights, hunting, circuses with animals, bullfights or running of bulls make an effort to maintain them and justify them beyond any logical reasoning and even go against a fair demand from the majority of the population. There aren’t valid arguments to enjoy pain and death; getting pleasure from causing pain is a psychological disorder, but the fact that authorities themselves allow and even promote these abuses serves as an indicator that we are facing a severe social crisis.

When I studied criminology, I became aware that the human imagination is unlimited when it comes to torture, and I was able to confirm that there is scientific basis that proves a correlation between the violence inflicted on nonhumans and humans. The instruments of torture used throughout history in America and Europe remind us that morbidity could go very far; that there was delight in cruelty. A sane mind cannot help but condemn the use of such instruments as well as the metal spurs used in cockfighting arenas, the darts and spikes used in bullfights and the laboratory apparatus used to torment animals for testing.

In addition, the use of animals in cruel shows is linked to high alcohol consumption and this represents a dangerous combination. More often than not cockfights have ended in fights or even in murders. There is also a connection between domestic violence and rodeos and street events where bovines are tormented; yet, many of these events with masses of people in Spain and in Third World countries are organized by the very authorities and even a record is kept of all the casualties from alcohol poisoning, fights or hits from the animals.

Without a doubt, in countries suffering from these problems, both crime prevention and rehabilitation are a failure.

Anyone who has abused human or nonhuman beings has tried to justify himself; but their arguments mare just pointless: “the victim had no soul”, an alleged “superiority” of the victimizer, or they deny the fact that certain beings feel pain or have the right to live. It has been said that the tortured beings “were born for that purpose”, or that “a tradition, nonetheless wicked, must be preserved”: It has even been stated that “it is an honor for a bull to die in a bullring”: total ignorance and senselessness. In a visit to Mexico, Colombian activist Álvaro Múnera pointed out, “I have never seen a different reaction from the horse that arrives in the first place and the horse that arrives in the last, that is to say, the ego is human, but we pretend to attribute it to the nonhumans”.

In the bullfighting world, if a child bullfighter is wounded or killed, instead of blaming the adults who allowed such a thing, they blame the calf or young bull, the nonhuman victim. That’s the way people who enjoy animal torture “reason”, and it couldn’t be any other way, because anyone who enjoys mental health and who is capable of speaking plainly could suggest that an animal with a central nervous system doesn’t feel pain: not only is there scientific basis supporting the suffering, but also common sense should tell us that if a living being tries to run away from its executioners as the bull “Pajarito” or another one did more recently in the Mexican bullring, or if they tremble, suffer from convulsions and utter cries of pain while bleeding, it is because they are in agony and they have that sense which leads them to pleasure and alienates them from pain.

Demagogy and fear of the truth are two serious problems of the national bureaucracy, as well as a reluctance to change; we rarely follow good examples of other countries. An ethical, social and bureaucratic evolution can be seen in countries like England or Germany, but also in Costa Rica or the City of Medellín. The latter shows an interesting case: one of its town councillors, the aforementioned Álvaro Múnera, once was an apprentice bullfighter, but a self-critical evaluation made him see that the torture and death he caused to animals was reprehensible, that’s why today he not only condemns bullfighting,
but also works in favor of species. Listening to people from other countries made him reflect and change: his current job as a town councilor should serve as an example to the Mexicans; Medellín, whose budget is lower than many Mexican towns’ and districts’, has achieved the reduction of cat and dog overpopulation without brutal captures or killings, has effective mechanisms of inspection, rescues mistreated animals and has been abolishing cruel practices (previously considered “traditions”) performed in front of children. In addition, animal traction vehicles have been replaced by three-wheeled vans and horses have been granted to people with enough resources to provide them a comfortable living. The fact of the matter is that not only the Americans or Europeans can make a change for the better. As Mexicans, we need to make our voices heard in the public life of our country: if as a consequence of a moral progress we want to outlaw “shows” involving cruelty, the public servants are forced to make the necessary changes in the law in response to a public demand.

In Catalonia, a strong public opposition to bullfighting urged its Parliament to pass a bill banning that custom. In Mexico, not even a strong disapproval by the viewers of Channel 11 of the harmful TV show “Bulls and Bullfighters”, as well as a gathering of signatures by people from different countries, academics, intellectuals, artists and federal legislators who supported and proved that the show constituted a blatant violation of the viewer’s rights, have managed to take it off the air. It’s extremely urgent to have an efficient public service that caters for the welfare of all citizens and adapts the laws and codes to the reality of the 21st century.

“In the face of atrocities one must take sides, neutrality helps the oppresor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

In Mexico it is very common to see Church members in bullfights of any kind. They might be celebrating Communion at the beginning of the cruel show, acting as spectators or even as bullfighters. Their participation is used as an excuse for raising funds for a noble cause. However, one cannot say that this is an act of altruism if the rights of another living being are violated.

In any of these cases we are in the face of shocking and reprehensible acts. The question arises: Why are the high-ranking priests of the Catholic Church or of the clergy in general in this country promoting barbarity and torture on an innocent being in the 21st century? It is obvious that the vast majority of priests discriminate against species, regarding nonhuman animals as things they can make use of as they please. It is due to this anthropocentrism and a lack of ethical and moral progress that they have estranged younger generations from the Catholic religion; because on the one hand they preach love and compassion, but on the other, they promote brutality towards animals by partaking in bullfights. But then, should we show love and compassion only for our own species? are the rest of the animals coexisting with humans in this planet not worthy of our respect? It all seems to point out that animals of a different species from our own are not deserving of compassion.

When the priesthood is asked for their opinion, silence reigns. This is very offensive for the people who stand up for the rights of any living being. The Church should be doing its bit to combat the violence assailing Mexico. The problem concerns us all, or, are they exempt from this fundamental responsibility?

It’s high time the Church expressed strong disapproval of animal torture and stopped promoting brutality by partaking in bullfights or any other events where animals are abused. This is already being done in other countries. Let’s take the case of France with the International Fraternal Order for Animal Respect founded by the clergyman Olivier Jelen, who has put forward an international online request against bullfights and against the priests who support them. This Catholic order stresses the importance of offering seminarists courses in ecology and protection of species amongst other things.

By the same token, the French Bishop Jacques Gaillot has sent a letter to Thierry Hély, a well-known activist of the anti-bullfighting movement in France. He states the following:

“(…) I deeply regret the fact that priests attract attention from the media by going to bullfights. I believe there is a new sensitivity getting ahead in France, particularly shown by the youth, who condemn the infliction of pain on animals. Bullfighters perpetrate brutal violence and cause bulls a lot of suffering in an unfair fight. Cruelty is part of the show and the crowd cheers. Animals have rights. If we do not respect them, how can we respect human rights? They are closely entwined. Public opinion is evolving and the anti-bullfighting movement is scoring points. I dream about the day when bullfights disappear. May your crusade be one of many triumphs”.

The Church should not and must not disclaim responsibility in this matter. It should take action in favour of the rights of any living being. This would be a great achievement in its evolutional process. The first step has been taken in France. Let’s hope the Mexican Church follows that path.

Xico is a town located to the south of the capital of Veracruz. It is not known worldwide because of its civility and ethical treatment of animals. It is actually its cruelty and primitive way of attracting attention each year during the “Xiqueñada” on the occasion of St Mary Magdalene’s Day what makes it world-famous. During such “celebration”, a bull is tormented and baited in the streets of this town where a drunken crowd attacks the poor animal like in the running of bulls in Pamplona and then it all ends with a bullfight.

The bull is used in the streets of this town as a form of entertainment for a brutal crowd that roars and mocks the animal who finds himself terrified because he doesn’t know what he is doing in a place where sadism and morbidity are rife. These people could be doing something constructive, working to help their community or actually celebrating this religious festival by expressing sympathy as believers. However, this mob revels in hitting this helpless animal, tugging at his tail and taking him by the horns so that he fights back. This living being is shocked and frightened, he doesn’t know what to do, his first instinct is to run away from danger; he then tries to defend himself by charging those who attack him at the same time. His efforts prove futile and his agony doesn’t end there, pain awaits him; but he can’t escape or defend himself, besides, there are wooden fences round the streets. Screams, mockery and humiliation increase as time goes by because alcohol produces the desired effect; people continue enjoying the suffering of a sentient being that has no voice.

Authorities as well as participants of this outrageous activity consider an animal of a different species to be just an object. This animal is fated to suffer physical and emotional torture. It’s just a worthless bull, suitable for the recreation of a cruel population that has nothing better to do. After all, authorities, the Catholic Church and that community consider this monstrous game to be a “tradition”. Animal torture disguised as custom is just an excuse for not improving in our humanity; it seems easier to be infested with violence and a lack of social progress.

It is important to point out that psychologists and criminologists argue that people who abuse animals are likely to commit violent crimes against other people. If we truly want to put an end to the wave of violence assailing Mexico, we must focus our attention on this kind of “celebrations” permitted in Xico and other towns such as Tlacotalpan and Huamantla amongst others, where authorities let brutality be part of the inhabitants’ recreation.

If we really wish to root out violence, let’s start by banning any kind of animal torture of any kind: the running of bulls, bullfights, cockfights, dogfights as well as animal circuses.

Living together harmoniously is not easy for 100 million people in a place where the distribution of wealth is grossly unfair and the poor public services are highly expensive. We are losing our forested areas and social peace at a dangerously fast pace and, worst of all, our authorities do not have the intention of doing something about it. All of these problems are evidently multi-factorial but they also have a moral origin. In several forums we have stressed the fact that we cannot promote violence and lack of ethics from the government and, at the same time, expect the situation to improve.

While in other countries research is being done concerning the intelligence of non-human animals, their capacity to suffer, their rights and the damage inflicted on us by being indifferent to their suffering, here new bullfighting schools and museums are being opened, cockfights and bullfights with young bulls are promoted and wild parties and street fights whose main objective is abuse are permitted: several bulls run in a terrified state through the streets of Veracruz, Tlaxcala or Guanajuato at the mercy of brutal and cruel crowds. There is complete freedom for circuses with animals, hunting and other kinds of torture, all of which influences the minds of cowards and social misfits who develop their criminal minds by tormenting animals.

Last April two news items leaked out which should have made the authorities react, because it is obvious that in some Mexican schools there are people whose profile is not that of students but that of criminals. These people, far from having values and ideals, imitate the mechanisms of intimidation of the organized crime or simply take advantage of a dominant position and abuse animals in a bullfight with young bulls or in a circus with animals.

In a state in the north of the country a group of high school students murdered several dogs and dropped the dead bodies in their enemies´ territory to frighten them. Their whereabouts is not known and it would be naïve to expect the authorities to investigate and solve the case because they have poor standards of morality and professionalism.

Another case was that of four students from Conalep (a public upper secondary) who tortured a stray dog to death. They recorded the murder and uploaded it to YouTube hoping to get some kind of recognition. To the surprise of these people, now expelled from Conalep, the YouTube community reacted with indignation. News spread through the social networks and the media, and at the same time animal right activists from Mexico and other countries coordinated to denounce the culprits and press the authorities to impose the corresponding sanctions. At the beginning the local authorities were inactive and ignorant, but little by little the sense of solidarity among the sensitive people generated a positive response.

Under these circumstances we feel depressed, but nonetheless motivated. Public service is inadequate and that is probably because there is a lack of ethics. However, the death of the helpless puppy has not been in vain: we corroborate the results of surveys about bullfights, that is, that we do not like abuse. There is mistrust towards our authorities, but when new instruments of assessment, communication and accusation appear, people get involved. Technology offers a great opportunity to communicate that we never dreamt of in the past, and that helps us to discover criminals and press the corresponding authorities.

The Cruelty Behind the Pageantry
Matador-turned-activist spreads message of reform

He was hailed as El Pilarico during the six years he spent battling bulls before cheering audiences. Then at age 18, a fight turned against him, and Alvaro Múnera lost the use of his legs. Soon after, his closest friend died from bullfighting injuries.

These experiences didn’t make Múnera bitter. Now, 43, he has devoted his life to rescuing animals in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia, and speaking out against the blood sport that was once his passion. In January, Múnera will extend his reach when he joins forces with Humane Society International, Asociación Mexicana por los Derechos de los Animales (AMEDEA), and México Antitaurino to tackle Mexico’s bullfighting industry.

“It will be the first time an ex-bullfighter has come to Mexico to speak up for the rights of animals,” says Ara Ferris, AMEDEA’s public relations coordinator. “We believe his visit will reinforce the ethics of the new generations, and it will mean invaluable support for legislators who are against bullfighting.”

Around the world, an estimated 250,000 bulls are killed in fights each year. Far from being the fair contest its promoters claim, bullfighting pits a terrified, confused animal against a trained executioner with a sword and assistants. Even before the matador steps into the ring, the bull has been taunted with capes and his neck pierced with barbed lances.

While many countries long ago banned this cruelty, bullfighting is still common in a handful of nations. Mexico hosts more fights than any country except Spain and is home to the world’s largest bullfighting ring, which seats up to 60,000 people.

Yet bullfighting doesn’t enjoy widespread public support there. “Most Mexicans have never been to a bullfight and will never go to a bullfight,” says Susan Prolman, who as director of HSI Campaigns helped launch the effort in Mexico. Many spectators are tourists who believe they are witnessing local culture, not realizing that so many Mexicans have no interest in these bloody spectacles.

The Mexican government helps prop up bullfighting through taxpayer-funded subsidies and promotions, even while a 2009 poll shows that 88 percent of Mexico’s citizens don’t want their tax money used to support bullfighting, and 87 percent oppose government funding of bullfighting schools, where children as young as 6 are trained for careers in the ring.

HSI and its partner organizations in Mexico City are calling for an end to the government handouts. They are also lobbying to remove the bullfighting show Toros y Toreros from public television and working to ban all government support of child bullfighting.

“Bullfighting is condemned to disappear,” Múnera says. “I feel like it’s my job to accelerate the process.”
As a teenager, Múnera was a rising star of the bullfighting world. But all he remembers is pain, especially when he thinks back to his final fight on Sept. 22, 1984, in Albacete, Spain.

Up to that day, he had killed more than 150 bulls. But this time, the bleeding animal in the ring turned back and charged, clipping Múnera’s left leg. The bull hit him once more before Múnera landed in a heap with back, neck, and head injuries. He couldn’t move or speak, and he struggled to breathe. “[The doctor] didn’t think I was going to survive,” he says.

It took 3 months to regain sensation and movement in his upper body. He was eventually transferred to a hospital in Miami. While healing in a country where bullfighting isn’t practiced, Múnera gained a new perspective. When he told people his story, he says, they sometimes reacted like he was “a psychopath.” Múnera began feeling ashamed of the years he’d spent killing animals for sport.

A few months later, he learned that his best friend – a matador nicknamed El Yiyo – had died from bullfighting injuries. Ever since Múnera has worked to help as many animals as he can in Medellin, where he has established an animal shelter and serves as the city council representative of FAUNA Colombia, a coalition of animal welfare groups. And he uses his personal experiences to advocate against bullfighting in his country and abroad.

Bullfighting is a waste of human and animal life, he says. “I survived to straighten a crooked path.”

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (May 29, 2009) –A strong majority of Mexicans oppose government subsidies and promotion of the bullfighting industry. Humane Society International, Asociación Mexicana por los Derechos de los Animales (AMEDEA) and México Antitaurinojoined together today to announce the results of a public opinion poll.

88 percent of respondents do not think it is right for the government to use taxpayer money in support of the bullfighting industry.
87 percent oppose the use of government funds to create and maintain bullfighting schools. 86 percent do not think it is right for the government to use public media to promote bullfighting.
66 percent call for immediate government action to prohibit the use of public resources in support of bullfighting.
83 percent of poll respondents do not believe that government authorities should allow and promote the participation of children in bullfighting.

“We call on government officials to heed the views of its citizens. Leaders at the federal, state, and local levels should take immediate action to end all subsidies and promotion of the bullfighting industry,” said Susan Prolman, director of campaigns for HSI. “Humane
Society International will continue working with our partners AMEDEA and México Antitaurino to see that this happens.”

“These results confirm what we already believed – that a strong majority of Mexicans oppose the use of taxpayer money to aid the bullfighting industry” said Gustavo Larios Velasco, President of AMEDEA and México Antitaurino. “There are so many pressing issues for the Mexican government to address. Supporting a cruel and outdated industry is simply not one of them.”

The poll was conducted between May 24 and May 28, 2009 by the Mexican public opinion firm Parametria. The results reported in this press release have a margin of error of +/-2.8 percent. The poll sampled 1,200 adults nationwide in random face to face surveys.

Media Contacts:
En Espanol: Gustavo Larios Velasco, with AMEDEA and México Antitaurino in Mexico, 044 55 18 00 54 14, amedea_ac@yahoo.com.mx

English: Kristen Eastman with HSI in the United States of America, 301-721-6440, keastman@humanesociety.org

Humane Society International is the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States, one of the world’s largest animal protection organizations — backed by 11 million people or one of every 28. HSI is creating a better future for animals and people through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide— On the web at hsi.org.
Asociación Mexicana por los Derechos de los Animales (AMEDEA) is a non-profit association that brings together people of different professional profiles with the objective of protecting animals from cruelty and promoting the ethical treatment of them— On the web at www.amedea.org.mx.

México Antitaurino is the union of people working together to end bullfights, child bullfighting, and similar events in which bovines and equines are treated cruelly for the amusement of people — On the web at mexicoantitaurino.org.

Robert K. Ressler FBI serial killer profiler
"Murderers very often start out by killing and torturing animals."

The Abuse Connection

It has been proven over and over. Statistical data, case studies, psychologists, and even FBI Profilers show us the connection over and over again, and yet animal abuse crimes are not given nearly the weight that human crimes are given. Animal abuse clearly illustrates a lack of respect for life and some deep rooted psychological damage.

If you break it down to its bare essentials:
"Abusing an animal is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend itself."

Now break down a human crime, say rape. If we substitute a few pronouns, it's the SAME THING.
"Rape is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves."

Now try it with, say, domestic abuse such as child abuse or spousal abuse:
"Child abuse is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves."

Do you see the pattern here?

The line separating an animal abuser from someone capable of committing human abuse is much finer than most people care to consider. People abuse animals for the same reasons they abuse people. Some of them will stop with animals, but enough have been proven to continue on to commit violent crimes to people that it's worth paying attention to.

Virtually every serious violent offender has a history of animal abuse in their past, and since there's no way to know which animal abuser is going to continue on to commit violent human crimes, they should ALL be taken that seriously. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Allen Brantley was quoted as saying "Animal cruelty... is not a harmless venting of emotion in a healthy individual; this is a warning sign..." It should be looked at as exactly that. Its a clear indicator of psychological issues that can and often DO lead to more violent human crimes.

History is full of high-profile examples:

* Patrick Sherrill, who killed 14 coworkers at a post office and then shot himself, had a history of stealing local pets and allowing his own dog to attack and mutilate them.
* Earl Kenneth Shriner, who raped, stabbed, and mutilated a 7-year-old boy, had been widely known in his neighborhood as the man who put firecrackers in dogs’ rectums and strung up cats.
* Brenda Spencer, who opened fire at a San Diego school, killing two children and injuring nine others, had repeatedly abused cats and dogs, often by setting their tails on fire.
* Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler" who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes in his youth.
* Carroll Edward Cole, executed for five of the 35 murders of which he was accused, said his first act of violence as a child was to strangle a puppy.
* In 1987, three Missouri high school students were charged with the beating death of a classmate. They had histories of repeated acts of animal mutilation starting several years earlier. One confessed that he had killed so many cats he’d lost count. Two brothers who murdered their parents had previously told classmates that they had decapitated a cat.
* Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had impaled dogs’ heads, frogs, and cats on sticks.

More recently, high school killers such as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel in Springfield, Ore., and Luke Woodham, 16, in Pearl, Miss., tortured animals before embarking on shooting sprees. Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, bragged about mutilating animals to their friends.
The Whole Picture

As powerful a statement the above examples make, they don't even begin to scratch the surface of the whole truth behind the abuse connection. The fact is that the examples above are only the ones that are sensational enough to make the news. These are the high-profile cases that many animal welfare organizations use to drive their point home, but the reality is that this pattern has shown itself over and over again in much less "news-worthy" cases. One might argue that they in fact, lessen the impact, because it makes this connection appear to be something that only exists in serial killers and "psychos", when in fact its very likely that everyone reading these words knows someone who has abused animals.

Surely you know at least one person who suffers from child-abuse, or is beaten by their spouse...

* In 88 percent of 57 New Jersey families being treated for child abuse, animals in the home had been abused.
* Of 23 British families with a history of animal neglect, 83 percent had been identified by experts as having children at risk of abuse or neglect.
* In one study of battered women, 57 percent of those with pets said their partners had harmed or killed the animals. One in four said that she stayed with the batterer because she feared leaving the pet behind.
Taken from http://www.pet-abuse.com/connection/

The argument of tradition is not justification for people to torture and kill animals, which are able to feel pain like us. Just like humans, they have the capacity to feel pain because they have skin, muscles, organs, and bones like we do. Animals are not objects; they feel pleasure and sorrow, joy and ache.

Bullfighting is a bloody and cruel spectacle where the bullfighter takes advantage of weak animals. Days before the bulls go to the arena, they have been beaten up, food and water is withheld, they have been given laxatives and drugs to debilitate them. Their horns have been cut or filed and petroleum jelly smeared into their eyes to blur their vision. Their neck muscles have been cut to prevent them from lifting their heads all the way up. Is this really a fair fight?

A variety of lethal weapons are stabbed to the bulls during the fight, some are between 3 to 6 inches long. At the end, a sword of about 18 inches is nailed through the cervical area to paralyze them, but the bulls are still alive and conscious. Generally they die by drowning in their own blood because the sword pierces through the lungs, not the heart, as it is commonly believed. If the bulls don’t die, then a small knife is used to stab the neck. Then, as a trophy, the ears and/or tail are cut off while the animals agonize, and finally they are dragged out from the arena to be carved up.

A series of these banderilles (usually six) are stabbed into the neck muscles of the bull during the “fights”.

Bulls don’t attack humans unless provoked like any other animals. They are herbivorous; the only thing they want is to get away from the pain they are being put under.

The question is: Why do some people enjoy with the suffering of other living beings? It is difficult to find the answer. Bullfighting belongs to the middle age where savages did not know any better. We have evolved since then!

IIt is not enough not to go to bullfights or not to watch them on T.V. It is imperative to show our rejection by writing letters to authorities, T.V. stations and companies that sponsor this atrocious spectacle. Don’t remain indifferent to the torture and killing of animals that cannot defend themselves.

Presentation of activist and writer Emma Saldaña’s book: “Las Voces del Silencio”

Past march 13th, Emma Saldaña , renown Mexican activist and author of the book “Las Voces del Silencio” (“Silent Voices”) leaded the presentation of this, her latest work in the Jardín Borda, one of the most important cultural spaces of the city.

The event had the support of the Instituto de Cultura de Morelos and was organized by AMEDEA and MANT.
The panelist were: Alejandro Herrera, research philosopher and founder member of AMEDEA, Gustavo Larios, president of AMEDEA and spokesman of México Antitaurino as well as Pedro Cano, UNAM’s academic and President of the National Veterinarian College. Ara Ferris, active member of AMEDEA, MANT and Mexican Delegate of World Animal Day acted as panel chairman.

Among the diverse expressed perspectives, this work of the pen of Saldaña was defined as a deeply significant document for the movement in favor of animal rights and stands out in a revolution of conscience whose main questioning is the way humankind relates and abuses of other species.
Another relevant issue was the huge negative social effects caused by cruel spectacles, especially in children, whom suffer from sever physical and mental harm when exposed to torture and murder in a so called “accepted way”.
Furthermore “Las Voces del Silencio” unmasks mendacious bullfighting terms and the many frauds made so that a vulgar executioner looks “brave”. This book also shows that the simple act of observing what goes on a bullring is enough to be ashamed of such a pathetic practice and stimulates its detractors to join efforts in order to achieve its suppression.

This is an extraordinarily well documented work that opposite to the speculative and highly immoral language used by bullfighting followers exposes facts as well as reasonable and logical arguments. Its enriching content is based upon ethics, health, pain and social violence. Each of its main chapters state a question which is later clearly answered and sustained on scientific, philosophical and logical basis. Its reading certainly reminds us constantly that we should not do to others what we do not want done to us.

Activism is always difficult in violent and materialistic world and turns even harder when the cause endangers certain interests and the bloody vices of those who have a certain degree of power in a determined society.

Emma’s book is indeed one of the most valuable instruments for animal rights activists in Mexico and other countries. The movement against cruel spectacles is increasing its presence and strength worldwide.

Thanks to the latest communication systems, efficient structures and strategies have been generated to work in the name of peace and tolerance regardless of the species. This document provides its readers with reliable and organized information related to bullfighting, contributing to reach the goal of banning this shameful practice in each of the eight countries that still accept it.

MADRID -- State-run Spanish television has quietly yanked live coverage of bullfighting from its programming, ending a decades-old tradition of showcasing the national pastime out of concern that the deadly duel between matador and beast is too violent for children.

Television Espanola's first broadcast in 1948 was a bullfight in Madrid . But for the first time in the network's history, none of its channels have shown live fights this season, only taped highlights on a late-night program for aficionados.

In practical terms, the unpublicized decision by the Socialist government is largely symbolic. Of the hundreds of bullfights during the March-October season, state-run TV only tended to broadcast about a dozen. Pay TV channels and stations owned by regional governments are full of live bullfights.

Still, many in the bullfighting world -- and in the conservative opposition -- are livid over what they see as a slight to a cherished piece of Spanish culture.

"We think it is awful," said lawmaker Juan Manuel Albendea. He said that when most Spaniards return from vacation in September, the center-right Popular Party will press Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to restore the broadcasts.

Promoters report 65 million people went to bullfights in Spain last year, and pulling them off free television is unfair to older people or those who cannot afford to go to the ring or watch on cable, Albendea said.
"Bullfighting is a spectacle that is alive, and spectators have a right to see it," he said.

Television Espanola said this week it had nothing against bullfighting. The station noted that it aired the running of the bulls in Pamplona, in which people test their daring by racing bulls through the streets.

But the network said it had to respect a voluntary, industry-wide code that, without specifically mentioning bullfighting, seeks to limit on-screen violence or "sequences that are particularly crude or brutal" from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to protect children. Bullfights often start at 6 p.m.

Albendea called the argument nonsense, insisting parents, not the government, should decide if children can watch a matador risk a horrific goring while stabbing a snorting half-ton bull to death.

Television Espanola also said it could not afford to buy broadcast rights to bullfights.

But Juan Belmonte, a critic for TV station Canal Sur in Seville , said matadors and promoters were angry that the station had not consulted the bullfighting industry about the possibility of cheaper broadcast rights.

Bullfighting is not for everyone, even in Spain . Polls show that few Spaniards go to the ring regularly.

And bullfighting impresarios are keenly aware that the crowds are short on young people. Fans tend to be middle-age or older.

While bullfighters may have been national icons decades ago, young Spaniards now tend to idolize stars like singer Beyonce Knowles or soccer great David Beckham.

Still, even if the allure is fading for some, bullfighting is a fixture of Spanish society.At neighborhood bars and cafes, the rhythmic cheers of "ole!" blaring from TV sets are as common a sound as soccer for Europeans or baseball for Americans.

Most Spaniards may not go to bullfights, but they don't want to lose them either.

Belmonte noted that bullfighting on state-run TV was profitable and had decent ratings.

A bill with topflight fighters could earn an audience share of up to 24 percent, which is above average, according to Television Espanola.

Belmonte criticized the government for citing money woes in bidding for bullfights when it spends much more for soccer games.

Nor does it make sense, he said, for the government to show support by subsidizing bullfighting schools in Andalusia , then snub the national pastime by wiping live coverage off state TV.

During the last cycle of traditional bullfights to celebrate the 62th anniversary of the Monumental Plaza de Toros México, Mexican anti bullfight alliance, MANT, formed by persons and activist associations in favour of animal protection, claimed this practice to be banned and announced that they will impulse new protest strategies.

“We have decided to leave behind street demonstrations, even though we respect them and understand that they do have an important function, and move towards sending out a clearer message.”, stated Gustavo Larios, member of MANT committee.

Activists explained that they will take other kind of actions to achieve their objective such as children workshops and books, billboards, conferences, to spread out information through mass media, to approach different government divisions so that they withdraw economical support given to bullfighting schools as well as to advise legislators to impulse a federal animal protection law.

MANT insisted that bullfights, novilladas, pamplonadas and similar activities enhance criminality, are ethically incorrect and do not represent a profitable industry.

“There is no ethical justification for hurting or killing, apart from the fact that cruelty is no catharsis but the seed of violence.”, declared this organization in a bulletin.

“To look for banning bullfights has nothing to do with likings, this issue is related to conscience and the pursuit of peace.”, said Larios and referred that criminal researches link violent behavior with animal cruelty practice during childhood.

As examples he mentioned the case of bullfighter nick named Yeyo, who’s actually in prison in Coahuila doing a 10 year sentence for homicide as well as the repeated complains of women from Cuentepec, Morelos, who claim that their husbands beat them and their children when they come back from a bullfight.

México Antitaurino just started its new campaign with a forum-press conference with exponents such as Emma Saldaña, activist for animal rights and the philosopher Alejandro Herrera, as well as with the testimony of a former bullfighter and documents sent by organizations as CAS based in the Netherlands and Uncaged from England.

“Nowadays no one can ignore the cruelty involved in bullfights, liking them or not, understanding them or not (…) and that so called art is nothing but a torture technique similar to that practiced on humans”, stated Saldaña and insisted on the “misleading” character of that practice by listing methods used before, during and after the bullfight.

The writer and activist assured that before the bull enters the bullring it is beaten, purged, hit in the genitals and its horns are filed, all these to apparently make it “braver” but also to diminish its defensive capacities. She added that most of the time, the animal remains alive and paralyzed but sensible until its execution.

On his behalf, Herrera deepened over the ethical meaning of causing pain and made a detailed description of the instruments used by toreros, bandilleros and picadores.

“There are no reasons to think that humans and other species experience pain and fear in different ways, but we can be certain that the fact that a nervous system is involved makes it clear that the bull feels pain”, stated the philosopher based on Charles Darwin’s researches related to vertebrae animals.

Herrera also invalidated arguments from those who consider bullfighting a “tradition” by pointing out that only those ones that are morally correct should be continued; “art” and “likings” by placing ethical values over esthetic ones and as “an employment source” by assuring that this business is only profitable for Televisa (a major broadcasting national company) and some businessmen, the bullring is only full during particular dates and the toreros salaries are low.

Teen bullfighter narrowly survives goring incident

Wire services
El Universal
Martes 17 de abril de 2007

A 14-year-old Spanish bullfighter lay connected to a respirator on Monday after being gored by a 414-kilogram (910-pound) bull in an injury that has raised questions about the dangers faced by young bullfighters, increasingly an attraction in Latin America.
Jairo Miguel was billed as the youngest bullfighter in the world when he came to Mexico almost two years ago at age 12, apparently to escape Spain´s ban on bullfighters younger than 16.
Miguel came an inch (2 centimeters) from likely death Sunday when a bull at the Aguascalientes Monumental Bull Ring rushed him at top speed and lifted him on its horns, appearing to carry him several yards with a horn lodged in his chest. The wound ripped one of the slightly built boy´s lungs in half.
"It brushed his aorta and came 2 centimeters from the heart," said Dr. Luis Romero, the surgeon who operated on Miguel at Aguascalientes´ Guadalupe Clinic.
"He was lucky, if you can call somebody who has been gored by a bull lucky," Romero told The Associated Press. If the 10-centimeter (4-inch) gash had been one inch closer to the heart, "this surely would have been a catastrophe, where it would have been very difficult to control" the bleeding. "
The trend toward younger fighters has raised questions.
"Bullfighting demonstrated today that it is an activity for men," the government news agency Notimex said of Miguel´s injury, and noted the only thing he could be heard to say after the accident was, "I´m dying, dad, I´m dying."
His father, well-known bullfighter Antonio Sánchez Cáceres, accompanied his son to Mexico and approves of his fighting. He was not immediately available for comment.
Doctors think they can restore much of the damaged lung´s function, and expect him to recover. The boy was in serious but stable condition.
Another attending physician, Dr. Carlos Hernández Sánchez, said Miguel was the youngest goring victim he had ever treated, but he said he did not think the boy was too young to be in the ring.
"These are injuries that happen. He´s a great bullfighter," Hernández Sánchez said. "
Juan Carlos López, the manager of the Aguascalientes ring, said there have been younger fighters in the ring there, but he would not cite their ages.
Bullfighting is fairly popular here, though it is far from being a national sport. Sunday´s goring occurred at the popular San Marcos Fair. Bullfighting is also popular in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
In Miguel´s native Spain, an aspiring "torero" must be at least 16 to begin training with small bulls but is not allowed to kill a bull in the ring before he or she is 18, an official from the Royal Bullfighting Federation of Spain said.
But in Mexico, some start as young as 12 or 13, and there appears to be a fad for ever-younger fighters.
In 2005, Rafita Mirabal, then age 8, started in the ring, also in Aguascalientes, a bull-mad city 415 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Mexico City. "Rafita," as he was known, began facing down younger, smaller bulls and calves, but the animals still outweighed him by hundreds of pounds.
The trend appears to have taken off when famed Spanish bullfighter Julian Lopez Escobar, "El Juli," made his debut in Mexico in 1997 at the age of 14.
"Rafita Mirabal is too little, in my view," said Iñaki Negrete, director of the Mexican Association of Fighting Bull Breeders. While the animals he fights are younger, "they can still break bones. ... It´s very dangerous."
Negrete says the influx of young Spanish bullfighters has been positive "because they can learn on Mexican bulls, which are a little softer or slower when they charge as compared to Spanish bulls, which charge more abruptly."
The age at which toreros start largely rests with the families.
"Normally, it´s the parents of these children - and they are children - who look out for them and put them into bullfighting schools," Negrete said. "It depends on individual judgment."

Abuse of animals encloses a variety of behaviors causing unnecessary pain, suffering or stress to animals that go from basic negligence in animal care to malicious or intentional murder. Every year, we see a great number of animals as victims of indirect abuse (negligence or omission in their basic care; omission in providing them shelter, nourishment and/or adequate veterinary care) or direct abuse (intentional omission of basic care or torture, mutilation or malicious murder of the animal). Such abuse is a social problem of tremendous proportions that does not only affect the victimized animals but all of the members of our societies.

Foreign studies in psychology, sociology and criminology have analyzed animal abuse as being closely related to interpersonal violence. Research has been reporting for more than thirty years that a great majority of abusers share a history of brutal parental punishment and rejection, early cruelty towards animals and violence against equals.

Psychiatrist Alan Felthous and colleagues have clearly identified the triad: physical abuse from parents, cruelty towards animals and violence against people. Studies on animal cruelty vastly report that incidents on animal cruelty occur at an early stage in the life of the abuser.

Almost every kid goes through a stage of “innocent” cruelty where he hurts insects or other small animals in order to explore the world and discover his abilities. Most kids, however, respond to their parents guidance and learn that animals can feel pain and suffering. Whereas others seem to stick to a pattern of cruelty that will escalate with age and come to surface in adulthood as violence against other people.

Based on the APA Manual on Mental Disease and the DSM-IV which consider animal and human abuse as a characteristic of dysfunctional behavior, we may take animal violence during childhood as a predictive factor of further violence against people in adulthood (marital abuse, cruelty against domestic animals and/or children, serial killings or mass killings…)

Comparative research report a larger incidence of animal abuse backgrounds in delinquents imprisoned for violent crimes than in non violent men who are not in prison (Kellert & Felthous, 1985, among others). Backgrounds on animal cruelty were also found in exhibitionists (30%), sexual harassers (48%), imprisoned sexual harassers (46%), convict rappers (48%) and adult murderers (58%) (Ascione, 1993).

Animal abuse turns a red light to the fact that we may be facing further forms of violence. Malice towards defenseless creatures susceptible to pain and stress is blatantly inadmissible in a civilized society.