France grants bullfighting cultural heritage status

Think bullfighting, think Spain - right?

Well not quite. The controversial blood sport is also popular in parts of southern France.

And France has become the first country in the world to recognise bullfighting as part of its cultural heritage.

A bull and a raseteur at the 75th Cocarde d'Or, Arles, France 2006, from Wikipedia, author JialiangGao

As the French daily Libération reports on Friday the ministry of culture announced that bullfighting had been "identified as an 'intangible cultural heritage' giving it the same status as tarte tatin (an upside-down apple tart), fest-noz (a traditional Breton night festival), Aubusson tapestry and Grasse perfumers."

Its inclusion comes as part of France's obligation as a signatory to the 2003 Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

But as the ministry also stressed the decision did not constitute "any form of protection, promotion or special moral bond" and "there was no intention to propose bullfighting for inclusion on Unesco's Intangible Heritage list," as had been the case for French gastronomy which was awarded that status last year.

But opponents of bullfighting were quick to condemn the announcement.

"Frankly I find the decision appalling," Claire Starozinski, the founder and president of l'Alliance anti-corrida, told the regional daily Midi Libre.

"At first I wondered how a ministry in a country which promotes 'enlightenment' could also encourage such a barbaric tradition," she continued.

"On reflection though I don't see it as protecting bullfighting, but if we're ready to give intangible cultural heritage status to popular movements then why not also include rave parties?"

Others critics were less measured in their obvious disgust; among them the former actress, model and singer and not animal rights activist, Brigitte Bardot.

"Including bullfighting on the list of France's cultural heritage is a huge mistake (Bardot used stronger language)," she wrote in an open letter to the minister of culture Frédéric Mitterand on the Brigitte Bardot Foundation website.

"I'm shocked because such a bloody and barbaric activity has nothing to do with French culture," she said.

The news came on the eve of opening of the five-day Féria De Los Ninos in the southern city of Arles.

And locals seemed delighted at the move.

"Bullfighting is part of our tradition and out heritage," Alain Lartigue, organiser of the festival told BFM TV.

"We don't want in any way to 'oblige' people to come to watch bullfighting but simply to respect the liberty of those who do want to come to do so."



A bloodsport of historic, economic and cultural importance or a barbaric, shameful and contemptible activity? French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel sums it up best perhaps in his 1994 song La corrida.

Animal cruelty - decision delayed on French teens who set fire to a cat

There are plenty of videos that go viral on the Net showing the horrors of what man can do to animals.

Thankfully a search for the one at the centre of this tale brings up nothing, even though the event was recorded on a mobile 'phone and then posted on the Net.

Sadly though, there are plenty of other examples of similar behaviour; each of them surely equally inexplicable to anyone with even a couple of neurones between their ears.

(source Wikipedia, Author - derivative work: howcheng)

In 2006 two adolescents from the south of France had reportedly spent the night drinking and were "looking for something to do".

The pair, according to a report which appeared at the time in the regional newspaper, Midi Libre, decided to relieve their boredom by locking a cat in a cage, dousing it with petrol before setting light to it and watching it die.

"A sordid story," says the animal charity Fondation 30 millions d'amis on it website after the first of the defendants, now 22 years old, appeared in a court in the southern French city of Nîmes earlier this month.

The Fondation was just one of several animal welfare organisations to file a civil suit against the pair. Others included Respectons, the Fondation Brigitte Bardot and the Société protectrice des animaux (SPA).

Speaking on behalf of Respectons, lawyer Frédérique Ortega outlined what made this case especially, in her terms, "barbaric".

"Beyond the acts themselves, the cruelty of these young people also lay in the fact that they made all the arrangements to disseminate these terrible images," she said.

The court has delayed making a ruling in the case against the 22-year -old until April.

A date has not yet been set to hear the case against the other defendant, who was a minor at the time, and will be appear before a juvenile court.

The maximum penalty for such acts of cruelty to animals, according to the 30 millions d'amis website, is a two-year prison sentence and a €30,000 fine.

In 2009 the case of "Mambo" the dog who survived after being set alight resulted in a 22-year-old woman being handed down a one-year prison sentence with six months suspended and a €6,000 fine.

Her 17-year-old companion received an 18-month probationary sentence

Dog owners help slaughter their Labrador-Boxer cross

It is, as the regional daily Le Maine Libre reported earlier this month, unbelievable the lengths to which some people will go to rid themselves of an unwanted animal.

Rather than take their Labrador-Boxer cross Dora to the nearest animal shelter for rehoming, an elderly couple in the western French département of Sarthe helped a friend hang and stab the four-year-old dog to death before throwing her body in a river.

All three "protagonists" have admitted to what they did, but as the animal charity Fondation 30 millions d'amis writes on its website, the most likely sentence they'll receive when their case is heard by a court next month is a fine and perhaps community service.

The Loir, the river into which Dora's body was thrown (from Wikipedia, author Ted Wilkes)

The couple, both in their 70s, from the village of Lavernat could reportedly no longer cope with the spirited Dora and decided to give her to a friend living in the nearby town of Château-du-Loir.

Dora continued her naughtiness and, no longer able to tolerate her behaviour and apparent attempts to run away, the 45-year-old decided to do what any sane-thinking person would.

She hanged the dog in her garden and beat her!

But Dora survived, only to be subjected to the "helping hand" of her previous owners who stepped in and stabbed her to death with a machete.

Together, all three then tied the body to a concrete block and threw it in the river.

The corpse was discovered at the beginning of January and police were able to trace the owners by an identifying tattoo in the animal's ear.

They all admitted to what they had done and now face a court case at the beginning of February.

Because they will "plead guilty" and the case is being judged under civil code the maximum penalty they can be given is a fine or some sort of community service, which as far as Fondation 30 millions d'amis is concerned does not fit the "barbarous nature of the crime committed."

It says on its website that if the case were being tried under the penal code they would be facing a maximum of a two-year suspended sentence and 30,000 euros fine.

What the charity would like to see is a change in how a guilty plea affects possible sentencing under the civil code because "torturers of animals often go unpunished for their crimes."