Spain no longer regards animals as “objects” as new sentience law passed, but bullfighting continues
Spain is the latest European country to pass new legislation recognising the sentience of ‘pets’ and wild animals, paving the way for welfare reforms, but with no mention of bullfighting or changes to its status as a protected cultural asset.
On Thursday, Spain’s lower house, the Congress of Deputies, overwhelmingly supported the passing of the new legislation that would finally differentiate animals from inanimate objects. The updates to Spain’s Civil Code were intended to make it easier to decide the fate of ‘pets’ in cases of divorce and separation, but the law also applies broadly to ‘domesticated or wild’ animals.
Despite this and the new protections afforded to companion animals - to not be seized, abandoned, mistreated or separated from one of their owners - there has been little mention of how the changes will affect farmed animals and bulls used in bullfighting and other ‘bull running’ or jumping events held in rural Spain.
Bullfighting is a controversial and hugely divisive topic within Spain and its autonomous communities, combining animal justice with fierce political rivalries. Bullfighting has become a symbol of right-wing Spanish nationalism and traditionalism, while calls to ban bullfighting are the hallmark of left-wing opposition and independence movements.
“If they are now ‘sentient beings,’ does a bull not feel?” asked Sergi Miquel, a deputy in Spanish Congress for the European Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDeCAT) - the party of former Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont, ousted after he led the failed bid for Catalan independence in 2017.
It is therefore no coincidence that the only party to object to the new animal sentience framework was the far-right Vox party, with Vox lawmaker Ángel López Maraver - former president of the Spanish Hunting Federation - describing the law as “insanity, nonsense, stupidity. It humanises animals and dehumanizes man.” The confused statement was likely made in response to the principle that pet welfare would be considered in custody decisions, much like with the children of divorced parents.
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In 2010, Catalonia banned bullfighting only to have the ruling overturned in 2016 by Spain’s Constitutional Court arguing the chamber had overstepped its authority in outlawing part of the country's cultural heritage. More recently, Spain cemented the protections given to bullfighting by declaring it a cultural asset.
How the updates to Spain’s stance on animal sentience will affect bullfighting remains to be seen, but the abhorrent blood sport already seems to be above the law having been elevated to the status of an art form. Despite public support for bullfighting waning in recent years, with no fights in Catalonia since 2011 despite the overturning of its ban, there seems to be strong support for ‘tradition’ within Spain’s legislature.
Speaking to El Pais in 2017 about the law when first proposed, The Animalist Party (PACMA), which has no congressional presence, predicted that it would fall short, stating that animals would “continue to be property that can be bought and sold, used in shows and exploited. They will continue to be things.”
The driving force behind the new sentience law was to make civil divorce proceedings easier by factoring welfare considerations into a judge’s decision of where a pet dog should go, much like they would when deciding upon custody of children. Addressing bullfighting was never part of the deal, and so it seems PACMA’s foresight was spot on.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.
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