The League is disappointed to learn that, from 2011, Benidorm will once again be hosting bullfights. Due to a protracted legal dispute between the bullring’s previous owner (Francisco Romero Leal) and the
Commission for Monitoring Bullfighting, the town’s bullring has not staged a bullfight since 2009.
The new owners of the bullring have yet to be confirmed, but all interested parties intend to pursue a timetable of bullfighting from the start of next year. The successful bidder will assume the outstanding €185,000 debt left over from the previous administration, and in return will receive an annual grant from the municipality of €18,200 to go towards offsetting that payment.
The Mayor of Benidorm, Agustin Navarro, announced that at the end of this year a Bullfighting Advisory Council will be set up to ensure “continuity” for the bullring. The League does not believe that animal welfare considerations will feature on this Council’s agenda.
As well as being subsidised by the Spanish government and municipalities, bullfighting is also indirectly supported by the European Union through the Common Agricultural Policy. To register your concern about the EU’s subsiding of the bullfighting industry, please contact the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos and tell him to
Stop the Subsidies.