Bullfight in Madrid

Madrid is famous for its bullfights. So Kenny and I decided to attend a bullfight, normally held on Sundays. I knew before going to the bullfight that it would be a bit gruesome in terms of how the bull is killed. But I would never believe how bad it was until I actually saw it and how disturbing it was to see the large number of people actually enjoying the bullfights. (Maybe it's just me, but I really think that these bullfights are horrible and cruel to the animals)

The bullfight consists of four parts. It first starts off with a band playing music and the introductions of each of the bullfighters. They all come out into the centre of the stadium and do a bow. Afterwards, no time is wasted and a bull is released into the ring with a few bullfighters inticing the bull with their capote which is a pink & yellow rag. After 10 minutes of playing with the bull, a horn sounds and the second part of the bullfight begins. A team of men (two on horses and 2 on foot) come out to the ring. Each horse is placed into position on opposite sides of the ring. The men on the horse are holding what looks like a sharp lance and tries to get the bulls attention by yelling to it. Once the bull sees the horse, it runs towards the horse and rams the horse with its sharp horns, while at the same time, the man on the horse stabs the lance into the bull's body until the bull moves away from the horse. At this point the bull is bleeding enormously. Tons of blood is spilling out of the stab wound. They do this twice to the bull. The horn then sounds and the third part of the bullfight begins. (Just to let you know that the horse is wearing protective gear so no horse ever got injured when the bull rams it)

The third part beings with the bullfighters playing with the bull again with the capote. Three bullfighters, each taking a turn, then stabs a pair of banderillas (which are short sticks) into the bull's back. At this point, the bull's tongue is hanging out. You can tell the bull is tired and is hurting from its wounds. Even when it sees the capote, it doesn't run aggresively towards it as it did at the beginning of the fight.
The horn then sounds again and the fourth part begins. It starts off with the bullfighter using what is called the muleta, a small red rag. He plays and taunts with the bull. After 10 minutes of this, he ends the battle by pointing the sword towards the bull's head and calls to it. The bull runs towards the bullfighter and the bullfighter stabs his sword right into the neck of the bull. The bull then slowly falls to its knees and a final stab to the centre of its head for the instant kill. The crowd goes wild and three horses are brought out to pull the bull out of the stadium. They tie the bull's horn to the horses and the bull is dragged around the ring of the stadium once. After a 5 minute intermission, the next bullfight begins in the same manner. The whole time we were there, three bulls were killed. We are not sure how many bulls are killed in one show as we didn't stay to the end because I couldn't stomach it anymore. (In the top picture, it shows the bullfighter stabbing the sword into the bull whom already has the banderillas stuck on him from before). (The bottom picture shows them setting up the bull to be dragged by the horses)

It was a really sad and cruel thing to watch. I just don't understand how the Spanish people can actually pay to watch these things. But then again, we Chinese people have cock fights and dog fights which are proabably along the same degrees of cruelty. It's terrible.