California - Velcro Bullfights - Reader response

[Guest guest]

"Noma T. Petroff" wrote:

 

> Of interest to Cow Conference members. Please note Humane Society's

objections

> at

> the end of the article.

>

> your servant,

>

> Hare Krsna dasi

>

> ******************

>

> New York Times, June 27, 2001

>

> In California Bullfights, the Final Deed Is Done with Velcro

>

> By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN

>

> STEVINSON, Calif. - By day, Dennis Borba could be mistaken for just another

> Central Valley rancher in a T-shirt and red pickup truck. But come Monday

> nights at

> this torrid time of year, he puts on his glimmering "suit of lights,"

> custom-made

> in Madrid, and becomes Matador Borba, grabbing a handful of dirt and crossing

> himself before stepping into the bullring.

>

> In dusty, off-the-map towns like Stevinson, Gustine and Thornton, this is the

> season of the "fiesta brava," the bullfight. From May to October, but

> especially

> June - roughly coinciding with the arrival of Pentecost Sunday and summerlong

> celebrations of the Holy Ghost - thousands of Portuguese-Americans, many from

> the

> Azores, flock to wooden bullrings to watch a distinctly different brand of

> bullfighting.

 

***********************

 

I thought conference members would be interested to see the response

of a New York Times reader presented below.

 

ys

 

hkdd

 

****************************

 

New York Times June 29, 2001 Editorial Page

 

Bloodless Bullfights

 

To the Editor:

 

Re "In California Bullfights, the Final Deed Is

Done With Velcro" (front page, June 27):

 

You assert that the "bloodless bullfight" is a "nod to animal protectionists."

In

fact,

most animal protectionists view this imitation of the real thing as a major

step in

the

desensitization of people toward animal cruelty.

 

How "humane" is it to breed bulls for the purposes of "entertainment" only to

send

them off to the slaughterhouse or rodeos after the fight?

 

Bullfighting reigns as one of the most egregious and unjustifiable forms of

animal

cruelty in the world today. That we would try to bring it to this country in

any

form

only demonstrates the low standard in human decency that we have allowed

ourselves

to stoop to.

 

PATTY ADJAMINE

New York, June 28, 2001