Bullfighter gored to death after taunting bull during festival
The incident, which happened during the corraleja bullfighting festival in Colombia, was caught on camera.
A man has died after being gored during a bullfight in Colombia, reportedly after taunting the animal.
Yovanis Márquez, 35, was taking part in the 'corraleja' bullfighting festival in Fundación, a city located in the north of the country, when he was killed.
Footage of the incident shows the bull standing in the arena with banderillas (barbed darts) piercing his shoulders. Márquez charged toward the animal and attempted to leap over him, but failed. The bull struck him with a horn. Though Márquez managed to stand and run, he was rushed to hospital without vital signs and later pronounced dead.
“The man passed away yesterday after being gored by an injured bull, in an act of self-defense, during the ‘festivities’ of the municipality,” said Colombian animal rights group Plataforma ALTO, which shared video of the incident on social media.
Colombia’s parliament passed a law banning bullfighting last year, but this won’t come into full effect until 2027.
The three year delay is to allow those who financially rely on the industry to transition into other work. It will also give time for bullrings to be converted into spaces for cultural and sporting events.
Colombia is one of only eight countries that still practise bullfighting. Many other countries have bans in place against the practice, including Argentina, Italy, and Brazil.
Bullfighting has long faced opposition, with animal activists condemning the practice as inherently cruel and inhumane.
During bullfights, banderillas are stabbed into a bull’s back and neck in an attempt to weaken the animal. This causes the bull to experience sharp pain when he moves his head and restricts his movement. As the bull weakens from bloodloss, a matador stabs him in his chest, then uses a knife to cut his spinal cord. Paralysed but still alive, the animal’s ears or tail are sawed off as a trophy for the matador. The dying animal is then dragged from the arena.
The death of the bull is typical of every bullfight, while the risk of injury to both horses and matadors is high.
Around 250,000 bulls are killed in bullfights each year, according to Humane World for Animals. Along with Colombia, fights still take place in Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Portugal, Mexico, Spain, and France. But the industry continues to face increasing political pressure in countries where the tradition still exists.
In Spain it is legal, but some Spanish cities including Calonge, Vilamacolum and La Vajol have introduced their own city-wide bans.
In Mexico, a judge outlawed bullfighting in 2022 on the basis that bullfights violated resident’s rights to a healthy environment free from violence. No fights took place for over a year in the country, but the ruling was later overturned by Mexico’s Supreme Court in 2023 and bullfighting has since resumed.
Earlier this year, Mexico City took a step forward for animal protection by banning acts of “violence” at bullfights. Under the new rules, bullfights can still take place, but without killing or injuring the bulls, either in or outside the ring. For the first time, bulls were also granted full legal protection from abuse, removing their previous exemption from the city’s animal welfare laws.
Join the movement against bullfighting: take action now by urging the Spanish Prime Minister to ban bullfighting in Spain. Add your name to the petition here.
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