World Animal Protection joins other leading animal welfare organizations to oppose bullfighting

World Animal Protection has joined other leading animal NGO's outside the Spanish Embassy in London to oppose proposed legislation that will protect bullfighting under the status of ‘cultural heritage’.

Groups, including Humane Society International, League Against Cruel Sports andPETA presented a 67,000 signature-strong petition to see bullfighting banned, not protected.

If passed, the legislation will see public funds used to prop up the industry, a move that is not supported by Spanish citizens. A recent Ipsos MORI poll showed that three out of four people in Spain do not wish their taxes to be used for this purpose.

In the Netherlands, groups gathered in front of the Spanish Embassy, using Spanish Flamenco dancing, to underline the message that real culture stops where animal cruelty begins. World Animal Protection teams in Copenhagen, Denmark and Canberra, Australia have also visited their Spanish Embassies to oppose the proposed legislation.

The proposed legislation is currently being discussed by members of the Culture Committee in the Congress of Deputies (lower house). The final text of the legislation is scheduled to be discussed and voted on by both houses of the Spanish parliament within the next week.