In one of the first bullfights held since the coronavirus forced Spain into lockdown in March, a matador was left holding onto his vitals after a dying bull attacked him in the butt.
Spanish matador Enrique Ponce was seen running from the bull as it digs its horns into his buttocks and lifts him into the air just before the creature dies.
The 48-year-old matador is then left on the floor with his hands over his head to protect himself.
The bull was responding to Enrique attacking the bull and stabbing it with a knife during the bullfight at El Puerto de Santa Maria’s bullring, in southwest Spain.
After it was stabbed the bull then turned on the father of two leaving him lying on the floor with his hands over his head.
According to the World Animal Foundation around 35,000 bulls are tormented and killed in bullfights in Spain each year.
The organization said tactics used to render the bull defenseless include being given tranquilizers and laxatives, beatings to the kidneys, petroleum jelly rubbed into their eyes to blur vision, and heavy weights hung around their neck for weeks before the fight.
The matador was unharmed by the incident with Spanish media reporting “torn knee ligaments and bruising,” according to the Independent.
Despite a second wave of coronavirus cases in Spain thousands turned out to watch the event held to mark the 140th anniversary of the bullring.
Most Spaniards ‘against bullfighting’
No such events have been held since the country went into lockdown in March with one bullfighter saying the pandemic had resulted in a loss of more than $900m income for those in the industry, according to the Guardian.
Meanwhile the majority of Spaniards support banning bullfighting, according to the New York Post.
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