Fiestas bulls in activists’ sights

“BOUS a la mar” are inseparable from fiestas in the Valencia region’s coastal areas.

In the Marina Alta they are one of the most popular features of Denia and Javea’s fiestas but their days could be numbered.  Actyma, a Spanish association opposed to the ill-treatment of animals, plans to lodge a formal complaints against “Bulls in the sea” events held anywhere in the Valencian community’s three provinces.

What Actyma president Lluis Altes described as “a minor battle” has already been won in Cataluña after a 10-year struggle.  The regional government there began legal proceedings against the towns of Cases de’Alcanar and L’Ampolla in Tarragona for holding “Bous a la mar” events during local fiestas.  This ruling will now hold good throughout Cataluña, Altes said.

The association, whose headquarters are located in Alfaz del Pi, is turning its attentions to the Valencian Community.  Three-quarters of all the popular fiesta events in Spain that involve bulls take place in this region, Altes warned.

He is aware that the Generalitat will throw out Actyma’s formal complaints but said the association would start legal proceedings to ensure that “Bous a la mar” are eradicated.

“They can start preparing,” Altes warned in reference to local fiestas.  “This is a tradition that has to be abolished.”