1/6/2014
BOGOTA – The brutal killing of a bull by 20 people who beat, kicked, stoned and stabbed it to death during festivities in a northern Colombia town has sparked indignation throughout the country, including a reaction Monday from Environment Minister Gabriel Vallejo.
The incident, captured on a video that has gone viral in Colombia, took place in the town of Turbaco in Bolivar province during the amateur bullfighting festival known as “corralejas,” in which anyone is allowed to take part.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows how people in a bullring relentlessly pursue, harass and strike the animal with sticks and stones until it falls and is kicked and stabbed by some 20 individuals, who even jump on top of it.
“I have to say it is totally barbaric, where people with sticks, stones and knives, and with utter cruelty, kill the bull,” the environment minister said on Blu Radio.
The controversy has reached such an extreme that the government will issue a statement Monday to make known its position on the matter, Vallejo said, adding that the chief executive could intervene “from the point of view of legislation.”
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office has said it will open an investigation that could result in criminal charges against Turbaco Mayor Myron Martinez and the organizer of the bullfighting festival, Julio Quintana.
“In the ‘corralejas’ there are always injuries, there are always animals that receive blows, always horses killed, there are different kinds of incidents that are part of the tradition and custom of the bullfighting festivals,” Martinez said on Caracol Radio.
The spokesman in Colombia for the NGO AnimaNaturalis International, Andrea Padilla, said the video should be seen around the world in order to raise awareness about the need to stop the mistreatment of animals in this country.
According to Padilla, what happened in Turbaco “should be condemned by all Colombians and the international community, because this is horror and violence at its very worst, with the consent of local authorities.”
source
The incident, captured on a video that has gone viral in Colombia, took place in the town of Turbaco in Bolivar province during the amateur bullfighting festival known as “corralejas,” in which anyone is allowed to take part.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows how people in a bullring relentlessly pursue, harass and strike the animal with sticks and stones until it falls and is kicked and stabbed by some 20 individuals, who even jump on top of it.
“I have to say it is totally barbaric, where people with sticks, stones and knives, and with utter cruelty, kill the bull,” the environment minister said on Blu Radio.
The controversy has reached such an extreme that the government will issue a statement Monday to make known its position on the matter, Vallejo said, adding that the chief executive could intervene “from the point of view of legislation.”
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office has said it will open an investigation that could result in criminal charges against Turbaco Mayor Myron Martinez and the organizer of the bullfighting festival, Julio Quintana.
“In the ‘corralejas’ there are always injuries, there are always animals that receive blows, always horses killed, there are different kinds of incidents that are part of the tradition and custom of the bullfighting festivals,” Martinez said on Caracol Radio.
The spokesman in Colombia for the NGO AnimaNaturalis International, Andrea Padilla, said the video should be seen around the world in order to raise awareness about the need to stop the mistreatment of animals in this country.
According to Padilla, what happened in Turbaco “should be condemned by all Colombians and the international community, because this is horror and violence at its very worst, with the consent of local authorities.”
source
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