As the bull became sluggish, the audience electrified.

This summer I took a trip down to the south of France. I stayed in the breathtaking rural village of Agrimont.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the famous town of Arles where Vincent Van Gogh painted. The day was hot and the town had an archaic feel. We started our time here by going to a cafe which had a strong local vibe to it. We ate scrumptious snacks and drank refreshing ice tea. For once in my life I did not have to add extra salt and pepper to the food to enjoy it.

The cafe was opposite the amphitheatre where the romans would take pleasure in watching torture. I was happy that I live in a time when this is considered ethically wrong and actually does not exist. But hey what did I know! The amphitheatre was huge – it could seat almost 10,000 people. I wouldn’t describe it as being anything amazing because for me it was just another amphitheatre – yes it was grand but being an average tourist I could not appreciate the beauty and value of it.

In the evening we made a plan. It wasn’t something that only tourists do – this was big with the locals too.We decided to watch a bull fight. For any of you that have seen one I just want to say none of us had any idea what a bull fight comprises of. In retrospect, we saw it a bit like a circus where men in coloured outfits played with bulls to bouncy music. On the way into the amphitheatre we stocked up on snacks given that the show was two hours (5.30 – 7.30 which was the time we would have eaten some snack). My impatience for the “show” to begin forced me to ask somebody who worked there what exactly is a bull fight. (My french is terrible). He responded passionately saying we kill the bull, sell it to the restaurant and eat it. He then kissed his finger to express how excited he was.I laughed at him and thought just because I was a tourist he was scaring me and besides the amount of children and even babies I saw sitting in the theatre seemed incongruous with what I heard. But I guess you only see and hear what you want to.

I sat on the crusty wood seats which had splinters coming out of them (and I chose this day too wear my favourite dress!) and waited for the “fight” to commence…

It started; I saw men in bright coloured outfits which had the most stunning sequence on them. They stood gracefully as the bull was let onto the “stage”. It was fine they teased the bull and the bull got angry and thats how far it should have gone but it didn’t. As the portugese bull fighter gradually put sharp hooks in the bull; the bull bled and the audience cheered. As the bull become sluggish, the audience electrified. It was distgusting.

Now a sabre type of bladed weapon was used to brutally execute the poor bull. He became weaker and the claps became stronger. One turn at a time they put the weapon into the animal and took it out. At one point the bull tried to fight back and another handful of bull fighters came out to kill the bull. The army slowly killed the bull. In his last breaths he made excruciating sounds and bowed in front of the fighters with his grey tongue hanging out.

It was all over in half an hour. We were not able to take the cruelty we left in distgust with all the tourists but the locals remained cheering on the bull fighters which had another four bulls to slay.

HOW CAN WE HUMANS PUT UP WITH THIS! BULL FIGHTING MUST STOP BECAUSE ITS NOT A FIGHT ITS MURDER WHERE BEFORE HAND THE FUTURE OF THE BULL IS WRITTEN. AND SINCE WHEN IS IT FAIR TO HAVE A “FIGHT” 9 AGAINST 1. WE DO NOT LIVE IN THE UNCIVILISED ROMAN SOCITY. WE ARE SOPHISTICATED CITIZENS OF CLASS LETS PUT A STOP TO THIS.