Help Catalonia : Spanish Nationalist MP : Animals have no rights in Spain

Last week, Toni Cantó (UPyD), a left-wing, unionist member of the Spanish parliament, caused a wave of indignation in the social media after he spoke about bullfighting and whether or not animals have rights. Specifically, he said that “neither bulls nor any other animal have two of the basic rights humans have: the right to be free and the right to live.”

Recently, the Spanish government has been trying to protect bullfighting by declaring it officially part of Spain’s ‘cultural heritage,’ a special legal definition that would protect this activity from being banned. The real goal of this initiative is to bring back bullfighting in Catalonia, where it has been banned since the Catalan parliament passed a law making it illegal. Cantó said that animals “have neither rights nor responsibilities.” Also, he added that “killing an animal should not cause any ethical problem.”

The Spanish government will set € 570m aside for the fiesta (bullfighting). We need to point out that this money comes directly from European Union funds.