Petition for the abolition of bullfights and all shows with bulls

To: President of the Portuguese Republic; Portuguese Prime Minister; Portuguese Parliament

Considering that:

a) science unquestionably recognizes most animals, including horses and bulls, as sentient beings capable of feeling physical and psychological pain and pleasure, as well as feelings of fear, anguish, stress and anxiety;

b) bullfights in Portugal enjoy an unreasonable system of legal exception, since paragraph 2 of Article 3 of Law No. 92/95 concerning the "Protection of Animals", which says that "Bullfights are authorized under regulated terms", frontally contradicts the first paragraph of Article 1 of that same law, which states that "All acts of unjustified violence against animals, such as those consisting of infliction of death, cruel and long time suffering or serious injuries, committed without necessity, are forbidden", which is clearly the case of bullfighting;

c) according to a study conducted in 2007 by the ISCTE's Center for the Research and Study of Sociology, the majority of Portuguese people is against bullfighting;

d) bullfights strongly offend the christian and catholic faith and feeling of the Portuguese people, since the Bible presents animals as creatures of God (Genesis 1, 24) and the Catholic Catechism declares that "it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly", a doctrine recently recalled by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI;

e) Article 9 of the Portuguese Constitution stipulates as a fundamental task of the state "to promote the people's well-being and quality of life", which is contradicted by the permission of bullfighting. This offends the feelings of the majority of the population and contributes to the moral degradation of those who get psychological and aesthetic pleasure in the animals' suffering;

f) bullfights are one of the expressions of a culture of insensitivity and violence that degrades whoever practices and promotes it, offending Article 1 of the "Fundamental Principles" of the Portuguese Constitution, which proclaims Portugal as "a sovereign Republic, based on the dignity of the human person";

g) several studies and experts agree that the practice and acceptance of violence against animals predisposes to the practice and acceptance of violence against humans;

h) the gradual withdrawal of retrograde traditions, contrary to a humanistic sense of culture as something that helps us become better human beings, is what characterizes the mental and civilizational evolution of societies and better matches contemporary sensibility;

i) the existence of bullfighting in the XXI century is an embarrassment to Portugal before the international community, forming the image of a country of barbaric people and practices;

j) the abolition of bullfighting is compatible with the preservation of its choreography, without the use of animals, in a show that maintains the traditional aesthetics and may become the tourist attraction that bullfights are not and never were, given the disgust it causes to foreign citizens (the evolution of customs has dictated the same in many cultures, converting old martial practices, with death and bloodshed, into recreational arts, such as japanese kendo and afro-brasilian capoeira, among many other examples);

l) the abolition of bullfighting follows the humanistic course of the abolition of the death penalty, in which Portugal was a pioneer, and will promote Portugal's image around the world, being a decisive contribution to the more ethical country we all desire, a "country that is freer, more just and more fraternal" as enshrined in the "Preamble" of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic;

We hereby request the approval of legislation that will completely abolish bullfighting and all shows with bulls, in any form, throughout the portuguese national territory, converting the existing bullrings into museums and houses of culture where information about an outdated practice is preserved and where humanitarian activities and activities that introduce young people and the general public to a greater awareness and sensitivity towards nature and living beings are promoted, creating jobs that may be filled by many people who now work in the bullfighting industry.

The Undersigned

Supporters