ECUADOR: Possible Bull Fighting Ban Has Some...Fighting Mad.

M.HERALD/ J. Wyss
3 screen read combined/

   On Saturday 7 May, Ecuadorians will vote for 10 diverse referendum issues.
   But the item that is stirring-up the electorate makes it illegal to kill animals for entertainment.
   On other words, it would end the 300-year tradition of bull-fighting.
   President Rafael Correa (pictured) is urging an across-the-board “Yes” vote.
   But tens of thousands feel the end of bull fighting limits their personal freedom.
    In February, 15,000 people attended a Quito bullfight and cockfight called “Bulls and Cocks for Freedom.” Correa now says cockfighting would be exempt.
   Spain's province of Cataluña outlawed bullfighting in 2010.
   Colombia has tried -- but failed to outlaw the spectacle.

VENEZUELA: Bull Leaps Barrier, Gores One In Merida.

TELEGRAPH/  :42 VIDEO

   Gory videos of bullfighting incidents and accidents are  news staples in So.America.
   So be it.
   Here's yet another reason not to pay for a "good" close seat at bull ring...as an enraged bull in Merida leaps into the stands, injuring one.

Animal Rights Protestors Threaten Older English Bullfighter.

INDEPENDENT.UK.
After his highly publicized return to the bullring, 67-year-old English matador Frank Evans arrived in Britain to promote his autobiography about four decades of fighting bulls.
But signing sessions in Liverpool and Manchester were cancelled after receiving threats from animal rights protesters.
Letters sent to the book chain warned that his book "The Last British Bullfighter" would “glamorise the cruel, violent world of bullfighting.”
(For more details, see August 30th story link on this blog)

67-Year-Old English Bullfighter Returns To Ring.

THE GUARDIAN.UK.
Frank Evans, the world's only English bullfighter and a grandfather of five with a titanium knee, who has also had a QUADRUPLE HEART BYPASS, restarted his career as a professional bullfighter facing two bulls at Benalmadena, in southern Spain.

DVD Review: THE MATADOR.

LINK: TO YOUTUBE MOVIE TRAILER.

I have never really understood bullfighting.

Ernest Hemingway grew-up in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago,and loved the event, writing furiously and famously about it.

I grew-up in Chicago proper and the only Bulls I saw or heard about played basketball.

And I don't like basketball.

But recently I came across a documentary about bullfighting in the Austin Public Library.

It's called "The Matador."

It is marvelous!

The documentary tracks three years in the career of young David Fandila of Spain as he struggles to become a top-rated bullfighter, suffering setbacks and devastating injuries.

Fandila's quest is informative, riveting and inspiring.

Maybe, just maybe, bullfighting must be respected as a sport and an art... not just a cultural throwback to another more primitive time.

In any case, this DVD is worth viewing...and keeping.

"The Matador"
Stephen Higgins, Producer/Director
75 minutes, 2009
City Lights/ Warner Brothers