A Portuguese 22-year-old was killed Friday in his bullfighting debut. The New York Post reports Manuel Maria Trindade appeared in front of 7,000 people in Lisbon's Campo Pequeno bullring and began running toward the animal, which then charged toward him. Video shows the bull slam into Trindade, lift him using its horns, and carry him some distance. Local media report Trindade suffered traumatic head injuries and cardiorespiratory arrest and died at a hospital the next day.
Portuguese bullfighting differs from the Spanish variety, and travel guru Rick Steves explained how in a post where he observes that "unlike in Spain, Portuguese matadors are brutalized along with the bull." How the actions shapes up:
- "A colorfully clad eight-man suicide squad enters the ring and lines up single file facing the bull. ... The leader taunts the bull—slapping his knees and yelling, 'touro!'—then braces himself for a collision that can be heard all the way up in the cheap seats. As he hangs onto the bull's head, the other seven forçados pile on, trying to wrestle the bull to a standstill. Finally, one guy hangs on to the touro's tail and 'water-skis' behind him."
Steves adds that the bull is not killed in front of the crowd but afterward, though some bulls that sustain only light injuries are kept to fight again. "Aficionados of the Spanish tradition insist that Portuguese fights are actually crueler, since they humiliate the bull, rather than treat him as a fellow warrior," Steves adds. Some animal rights groups and left-wing parties in Portugal continue to call for the sport to be banned.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
