Colombian bill aims to make bullfighting bloodless

A bill aiming to take the blood and gore out of bullfighting in Colombia was proposed for debate in the congress, the local Caracol news network reported Thursday.

The bill, which is expected to be "hotly debated in coming weeks" in the congress, seeks to ban the "toreros," or bullfighters who goad and ultimately slay the bull.

According to Spanish bullfighting website Madrid Bullfighting, the "irons, banderillas, swords and lace are the allies of the bullfighter to enrage the bull and get a full bull run."

The site describes the irons as "pikes ... used for chopping the bull in the back, in order to enrage" it, saying the "banderillas" or stakes are wooden sticks with four-centimeter-long harpoon tips "to embed and stay on the bull's back"; the sword is an 88-centimeter-long weapon used to kill the bull; and the lace or small knife "aims to finish off the fallen bull."

Should the bill be passed, any actions that "lacerate, mutilate, injure or kill the animal" will be banned from the ring.

Natalia Restrepo, who represents an animal rights group backing the bill in the congress, said that bullfighters "should stop using these weapons ... that inflict all kinds of pains and sufferings on the animal until it dies."

However, Harold Ronderos, owner of a bullfighting organizing company, argued "the bullfighting bull is born to die in the ring."

"What these people seek is to mutilate bullfighting," he said.

Brought to Latin America centuries ago by the Spanish, bullfighting has been a deeply-entrenched sporting event in some countries of the continent including Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador, according to Humane Society International.

Some animal rightists have been working to get the bloody sport banished. In Mexico, local animal rights groups have also tried to ban bullfighting in cities, and even succeeded sometimes, at least for a while.

Former Mayor of Bogota Gustavo Petro also worked to ban the bullfighting in his term from 2012 to 2015 and briefly succeeded, but the banning order was later overturned by Colombia's Constitutional Court. Endi