But who are these 21st-century “barbarians” who breed fighting bulls? And what do we know about the lives of the animals themselves, beyond their deaths on the torero’s sword? Probably not very much, in most cases.

Opponents see bullfighting as a barbarous and medieval relic which has no place in modern Europe. The European parliament also recently voted to prevent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies going to breeders of fighting bulls – potentially affecting bull-breeding estates in France and Spain, where bulls die in the arena. This follows the loss of key city councils to allies of Podemos, which recently resulted in Madrid scrapping its longstanding subsidy to the oldest of the country’s 52 bullfighting academies. What’s more, the conservative Partido Popular has just lost its absolute majority in the Spanish parliament, which it had been using to support bullfighting. As many as 76% of the Spanish public may oppose it receiving public funding. Bullfighting appears to be facing tough times once more.

Raising bulls for breeding