A female protester who jumped into a bullring to comfort a dying animal was an intruder into the masculine world of blood lust and glorified violenceShe bends down to comfort the dying bull. She holds its horns in a loving and tender farewell to a creature slaughtered for sport. As the matador in his finery looks on helplessly at his moment of triumph being spoiled, officials try to pull animal rights activist Virginia Ruiz away from the beast to whom she brings solidarity and compassion. Did the beast know? Did this moment of mercy make a difference to it? And how long can Spain keep using bulls as sacrificial victims in archaic sports and festivals?This dramatic protest in the bullring was one more incident during a summer of no fewer than 10 fatalities in the bull-running events that are popular in many Spanish towns. Bulls have been mythified in many cultures since the stone age. They appear in cave paintings as potent, supernatural horned beings. During the Minoan civilisation in Crete, young men leaped over bulls as part of a game that may also have been a religious ritual. This Minoan obsession with bulls is remembered in the Greek myth of the Minotaur, the half-bull, half-human monster that lived beneath the royal palace. Continue reading...
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