Children clap and cheer as they watch bulls being tortured, stabbed to death at French bullfighting school
Warning: Disturbing content
A shocking video captured during an undercover operation by an animal rights' organization shows very young bulls being killed in front of cheering children who were as young as six.
European animal rights group One Voice announced in a press release that they had infiltrated one of the bullfighting schools in France and had observed first hand "the killing of bulls so young that they are almost calves."
One Voice reported that children as young as six years old can enroll in these schools and that "at an age when one begins to read and write, one can learn the B-A-BA of bullfighting". The group said the children "learn that torturing a living animal by planting spears and then pushing a blade into its body is acceptable and expected."
Children are reportedly taught in these bullfighting schools all year round and practice using the muleta (the stick with a red cloth hanging from it used in the final third of a bullfight), as well as cape work, wooden spikes, and sword work.
At the end of the year, as a "reward," they are allowed to enter the arena and kill very young bulls.
One Voice said that, during these end-of-year events, the bull is taunted around the vicinity of the arena for more than 20 minutes and then has a sword stabbed into its back several times until it collapses.
The group said that "in the last seconds of his consciousness," the young matador will then sink a dagger into its neck while it desperately struggles for its life and that it will "spill its blood in a few minutes, an eternity to the one suffering."
A video they produced shows the children watching expectantly as the bulls are teased and gored, with one part showing a young boy looking terrified as he is pulled towards a bull by an older man.
One of the mothers of the students confided in One Voice that, after killing his first bull, her son stopped bullfighting for a year because "he was still in shock."
"Whether they fear for themselves or do not want to hurt living beings, children must obey. It’s written into the bullfighting school rules," their report said.
The group said "it is an education of sadism" which has "deleterious repercussions" on the students' psyche and reported that "psychologists around the world are worried about the impact it can have on brain development and empathy of children."
One Voice has called for the banning of these "training centers" for minors, banning access to minors to these shows, and a ban on hurting the bulls and putting them to death.
"Ban these schools," they said. "One Voice and its partners Anymal, CRAC Europe, FLAC and No to Corrida have written a joint petition calling for the immediate cessation of these bullfighting practices considered as torture."
Watch One Voice's video on the bullfighting school for children here: