Recent action by the lobby saw campaigners embark on a silent awareness-raising walk along the Salgados, Grande and Santa Eulália beaches (from Pêra to Albufeira).
A small aeroplane also flew over the region’s busiest beaches towing a banner that read ‘Stop Bullfighting Torture’, and protests have been staged in the vicinity of a bullfight that took place in the Albufeira ring last Friday (8 September).
Furthermore, a spokesperson for the lobby said: “We intend bombarding the Câmara with emails and written letters, asking why they still support bullfighting.
“There are a great many supporters involved in this action. The emails and letters will be opened on Monday morning and of course we would like to know how they are received and what the Câmara’s stance on bullfighting is.”
Speaking to The Portugal News Isabel Machadinho, who is in the running for Albufeira Council in the upcoming local elections representing the PAN – People, Animals and Nature – Party, which backs the lobby, explained: “The city of Albufeira has no tradition of bullfighting. There is no livestock, no history of bulls and horses.
“The bullring that exists in Albufeira, is incomplete; it is a poorly maintained building that was never finished. It does not dignify our city, quite the contrary”, she blasted, deeming the enclosure “an architectural and structural stain”.
Recalling a national study carried out in 2007 by a Lisbon University on behalf of an animal rights association, the PAN candidate stressed how 56.1 percent of participants said they were in favour of a legal ban on bullfights.
“An evolved and developed society cannot condone gratuitous violence against living beings that have the ability to feel when a fly lands on their backs, let alone when metal is stabbed into their flesh.”
Citing a recently-created and approved legal status for animals that recognises them as sentient beings and which grants them rights, she added: “Bullfighting is clearly a setback in the civilization progress of society, and is a clear breach of the new legal status of animals!”
Laying out her ideals for Albufeira, Ms. Machadinho said her party wants the city “free of these cruel and bloody demonstrations, real torture, which in no way represents the will and the way of being of the citizens of Albufeira, and which fail to attract a vast majority of tourists.
“Often the enclosure itself is practically empty during the whole show. The abolition of this type of spectacle is pending pretty much everywhere.”
Almost a year ago to the day, online travel giant TripAdvisor issued a statement in which it said it would no longer sell tickets for tourist activities that involved physical contact with wild animals or endangered species in captivity, such as elephant rides and petting tigers.
TripAdvisor also bans reviews for businesses promoting attractions such as bullfights or captive hunts.
National Geographic reported TripAdvisor had been under pressure from animal welfare groups to steer away from “attractions known to cause psychological and physical trauma to animals that can shorten their lives.”
A petition (http://peticaopublica.com/pview.aspx?pi=PT86335) addressed to the Mayor of Albufeira, has also been launched to demand a stop to bullfights in the city.
At the time of going to press it had been signed by around 250 people.
Ms. Machadinho claims official statistics show that since 2000, bullfights have lost 53.1 percent of their audiences.
She said she will do “whatever is within my reach to abolish bullfighting in Albufeira”, and wants to transform the bullring “into a space of true cultural manifestations, such as music shows, sporting events, etc.
“Bullfighting is not culture. Bullfighting is torture.”