Gory images from Spain’s first bullfight since lockdown has unleashed outrage with campaigners calling for it to be halted amid a surge of new coronavirus cases in the country.
The gruesome pictures show a sword twitching up and down in a bull’s back as its dying body convulses during the bloodsport.
The barbaric scene was recorded by activists from Torture Is Not Culture and Animal Guardians in Avila, 55 miles west of the Spanish capital Madrid.
The footage also shows the bullring is less than half full, with large parts of the terraces holding only a handful of spectators and the upper tiers abandoned on all sides.
Carmen Ibarlucea, from animal rights group La Tortura No Es Cultura (Torture Is Not Culture), said: “Have we not already had an overdose of death and pain in these past months?”
Marta Esteban Miñano, from Animal Guardians, said: "The bullfighting lobby has been clamouring for months, asking for public money and demanding to be able to hold a bullfight.
"And what happened? It has been a total failure, the alleged fans have not responded."
Lockdown has hit bullfighting hard and the bloodsport’s bosses have been vocal about the need for government subsidies if it is to survive.
But the practice already receives public money from both national and local governments, while farms raising animals for the bullring have been shown to receive EU cash.
Mrs Esteban continued: "How can this cruel bankrupt business continue to be subsidised with public funds?
"This is a waste of Spanish and Europeans taxes at a time of great need."
Carmen Ibarlucea added: "The numbers speak for themselves: in Spain, those of us who reject bullfighting are a large majority.
"England in 2005 banned fox hunting. China just barely a month ago banned breeding dogs for human consumption. Traditions are not immovable."
The incidence of virus cases in Spain has tripled over the past two weeks, from 8.8 cases per 100,000 on July 3 to 27.4 per 100,000.
It has led the UK government to reimpose mandatory quarantine for everyone arriving from Spain, forcing British holidaymakers to self-isolate for 14 days on their return home.
But the government is considering cutting it down to 10 days after a huge backlash from holidaymakers and businesses.
Spain receives more tourists from the UK than from any other country, and tourism accounts for 11% of the country’s GDP, so the return of quarantine comes as another blow to its economy.
