Another Ritual of Dominionism Exposed by Animal Equality.

For several years, I have been chronicling various "rituals of dominionism," Jim Mason's concept for social rituals in which human superiority is celebrated by the killing and degrading of "lesser-than" nonhuman animals.  Mason first introduced the concept in his excellent book, An Unnatural Order.

Sociologically, rituals of dominionism play an important role in socialisation processes since they typically involve both adults and children, the latter learning that human “mastery” over nonhuman animals is both normal and legitimate (see a contextualisation of the importance of social ritual and rituals of dominionism HERE.)

A hitherto hidden ritual of dominionism has been uncovered by the Spanish animal advocacy group, Animal Equality, when they recently filmed the killing of a bull with spears.  Their report follows, written by spokesperson Jose Valle.   

Today I was in Tordesillas, a small town south of Madrid, with my colleagues from Animal Equality for the second year running. Last year we flew over the town with a paraglider to demand respect for animals and to film the death of the bull Valenton. Thanks to the recording then, various news sources showed society images of the last moments of Valenton's life and the injustice that he was a victim of.

This year we returned. On this occasion the victim was Moscatel. After trying to escape, badly wounded, via the road to the point where he nearly reached the motorway (the traces of blood he left in his attempt to flee are still visible on the concrete), Moscatel was stabbed with a spear in a ditch. He was still on his feet when we arrived, exhausted from running, and practically at his side. He was looking around him bewilderedly, with a spear stuck in his side. Blood bubbled up copiously from the open wound.

A crowd armed with spears surrounded him with the firm intention to kill him right there in the ditch. A young boy tried in vain to pull out the spear that was wedged in his side, aggravating his wound even more. A few minutes later, when Moscatel was already on his knees, almost exhausted, two young boys managed to pull out the spear. Moscatel reacted by getting up in a last desperate attempt to fight for his life, trying to charge at his attackers, some of them mounted on horses, also victims of this festival.

His attempt ended with him on the ground once more. Defenceless and incapable of getting up again, a man approached him from behind armed with a knife and tried to cut through his spinal cord. It took up to five minutes stabbing repeatedly with the knife – as can be seen in the video we recorded. Finally, they decided to cover him with a canvas sheet before he died due to the grotesqueness of the situation, even in the eyes of his attackers. While some tried to prevent anyone seeing, I got closer to the young boy that was standing on his head, on his left horn to prevent him getting up while others stabbed the knife in determinedly. I saw him massacred, still alive and in agony while others climbed on his back to claim victory. I managed to touch him before they covered him up totally and wished him to feel no more of his torment… deeply ashamed to belong to the same species as these rabid people who had carried this out. In a few moments, the blue cover became stained red with blood while his attackers argued over who had killed him.

Thanks to this footage, various news sources are broadcasting the images right now; in some such as Antena 3 they have interviewed my friend and fellow activist Javier. The attackers covered the victim of their massacre and tried to hide their crime from society by preventing the presence of cameras. Animal Equality was there for the second year running, defending animals and giving visibility to this injustice, giving a voice to those who others are trying to silence, in order to advance towards full recognition and respect of their interests.

Remember, that the death of Moscatel, equal to that of Valenton last year, is as injust as the deaths of all the nameless animals that die in slaughterhouses or laboratories. Please, don't participate in animal exploitation; reject all forms of animal use, because each one has its victims.

Since Animal Equality is not an animal welfare group, they make no calls for this ritual to be made more "humane."  Instead, they emphasise that this is one form of animal use in many involving killing and suffering.  Some have attempted to defend this ritual, describing it as a "tradition" and by pointing out that "food animals" probably suffer more than the bull did.

Jose told me that his group accepts that a chicken exploited over 13 months, and animals used in the dairy industry, probably do suffer more: this bull, after all, had lived in a field all his life until used in this dominionist event.

It is important that single events like this are generalised in the context of society’s use of animals.  I'm glad that Animal Equality take issues like this to make the wider claim that humans have no right to use animals as a general matter.