International Efforts to End Bullfights in the World Will Be Discussed and Prepared at International Anti-Bullfighting Summit, to Take Place in Lisbon, from 17th to 19th May

25 European and Latin American anti-bullfighting and animal protection organisations will gather in Lisbon, Portugal, to establish the grounds for a bullfighting-free world

(PRWEB) May 14, 2007 -- Invited by the Portuguese animal protection group ANIMAL, in collaboration with the League Against Cruel Sports and the Anti-Bullfighting Committee The Netherlands & Belgium, 22 other anti-bullfighting and animal protection organisations from across Europe and Latin America will gather, in Lisbon, Portugal, from 17th to 19th May, to participate in the International Anti-Bullfighting Summit, an international meeting for anti-bullfighting campaigners to discuss and assess the state of bullfights and anti-bullfighting efforts in the world and to establish common strategies and ways to take these efforts forward, laying the grounds for a bullfighting-free world.

This Summit will be preceded by a major anti-bullfighting demonstration on 17th, at 7 p.m. (Lisbon GMT time), outside the Campo Pequeno Bullring, Lisbon´s bullring and Portugal´s main arena, where a bullfight will be taking place to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the reopening of this bullring. This will be an international demonstration in which all the guest organisations and campaigners of the Summit will participate, and it will be a special protest event which will symbolise the purposes of this important anti-bullfighting meeting.

• Thursday, 17th May, starting at 7 p.m. (Lisbon GMT time), 25 European and Latin American anti-bullfighting organisations will stage a major protest against bullfights in Portugal and wherever they exist in the world; the protest will be carried outside Campo Pequeno Bullring, Lisbon´s bullring, in a night when the 1st anniversary of the reopening of this bullring – Portugal´s main arena – will be commemorated with a bullfight.

• Saturday, 19th May, at 7 p.m. (Lisbon GMT time), in the auditorium of the “Rainbow” Business Center, in Rua Amélia Rey Colaço, n.º 40, em Carnaxide (Oeiras), the organisations promoting the International Anti-Bullfighting Summit will hold a press conference where they will announce the conclusions of this two day international meeting dedicated to establish the foundations for a world free from bullfights.

Spain will be represented by ADDA – Asociación Defensa Derechos Animales, FAADA – Fundación para la Adopción, Apadrinamiento y Defensa de los Animales, AnimaNaturalis Internacional, PACMA – Partido AntiTaurino Contra el Maltrato Animal, Stop Our Shame and the Plataforma Antitaurina de Manlleu. From France, the CRAC – Comité Radicalement Anti-Corridas, FLAC – Fédération des Liaisons Anti-Corridas, Ligue Française des Droits de l´Animal and the Société Protectrice des Animaux will come to Lisbon´s anti-bullfighting events. The Netherlands and Belgium will be represented by the Anti-Bullfighting Committee The Netherlands & Belgium. The League Against Cruel Sports, the WSPA – World Society for the Protection of Animals, Animals Count and SPEAK Political will be coming from the UK. The Irish Council Against Bloodsports will be in Lisbon as well, representing Ireland. Ecuador will be represented by Quito Anti Taurino and Protección Animal Ecuador. From Mexico, the groups GARRA and Frente Antitaurino de México will be part of this international event. From Venezuela, FAMPROA, ASOGUAU and Stichting Dierenhulp Venezuela will be the participating groups.

Miguel Moutinho, ANIMAL´s President, said, “These will be two historic events, not only due to their international relevance, but also because this Summit will be a very important meeting of anti-bullfighting campaigners of dozens of organisations which are in the frontline of the social and political struggle against bullfights in the world. It will be a mutual learning meeting, in which we will assess the state of bullfights and anti-bullfighting efforts internationally, and in which we will be discussing and planning common strategies to consolidate the strength and success of groups actively opposing bullfights across the world, so that stronger foundations for a world freed from bullfights may be even more solidly built.”

“This is a time when bullfights are moving fastly towards the end in Europe. In Latin America, in Spain and in France more and more towns are officially becoming anti-bullfighting towns. In Spain, the Spanish public is growing more and more disinterested about bullfights. In Portugal, the recently published official report on the Portugal´s bullfighting activity of 2006 clearly shows the free-fall of the medieval bullfighting business in the country. This Summit will therefore be a defining moment to make the end of bullfights happen even more rapidly then we had previously estimated,” stated Rita Silva, ANIMAL`s Vice-President.

According to the Portugal´s “Bullfighting Activity of 2006” report, published by the Portuguese Government´s General Inspection of Cultural Activities (available online at http://wwwigac.ml.pt/), in 2006 there was a decline in the number of bullfighting spectacles that were organised in the country and there was also a decline in the number of people attending these events. Without the reopening of the Campo Pequeno Bullring, the decline would have been even higher, it is mentioned in this report. It is also said that in 2006 more bullfights were broadcasted by TV stations (RTP and TVI) and that, while there has been a high peak of bullfighting activities in the country from 2000 to 2002, these have been continuously decreasing and lacking public support from 2003 until today. Lisbon was the district where most bullfights happened in 2006 and Faro (Algarve) was the second district where more bullfights were organised (regions where ANIMAL has exactly focused its anti-bullfighting efforts).

These officially reported conclusions show that ANIMAL has been right everytime it has stated that bullfights are close to ending in Portugal. This anti-bullfighting group is preparing a crucial campaign against bullfights in Portugal, which will be launched after the International Anti-Bullfighting Summit and which is aimed to make these gruesome spectacles of gratuitous violence towards animals become nothing more than a dark part of Portugal´s history.

For more informations, please contact Miguel Moutinho, through (00 351) 96 235 81 83 or via e-mail.


Note about ANIMAL
ANIMAL is a non-governmental organisation working to educate the public about animals, their characteristics, needs and rights, investigating and exposing animal cruelty and campaigning to abolish the exploitation and abuse of animals in Portugal. ANIMAL also carries lobbying efforts to forward animal protection and takes legal action to enforce animal protection legislation, also involving the media in highlighting the suffering and killing of animals and how important and urgent it is to end it.

Associação ANIMAL | www.Animal.org.pt | Tel/Fax: 282 491 216

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