“Administrative Court Suspends Return of Bullfighting in Pérols, Delighting Animal Rights Defenders”

It is a decision that will delight the defenders of the animal cause. Administrative justice put a stop to the return of bullfighting to Pérols, in the Hérault, on Tuesday, considering that no well-established tradition in this city allowed to authorize shows with the killing of bulls. The administrative court of Montpellier thus “suspended” the execution of a deliberation of the municipal council of Pérols providing for the organization on July 15 of a “novillada, which opposes young bulls to young bullfighters, with the killing of bulls”.

The mayor of Pérols, Jean-Pierre Rico, announced in February the return of bullfighting to the arenas of this city near Montpellier and the neighboring seaside resorts of Carnon, Palavas-les-Flots and La Grande-Motte. Two associations for the defense of animals, the “Comité radicale anticorrida” (Crac Europe) and the “Alliance anticorrida”, as well as three inhabitants of Pérols, had asked the administrative court to suspend the decisions of the municipal council.

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Ruling urgently, the administrative judge first recalled that “carrying out serious abuse or committing an act of cruelty towards an animal (…) is punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros” . But he also pointed out that there is an exception: bullfights are permitted when an “unbroken local tradition can be invoked”. However, “no bullfighting show has been held on the territory of the municipality of Pérols since 2003, that is to say 20 years”, notes in this case the administrative judge. The green light for the return of bullfighting is therefore suspended “until it is decided on the merits of the legality” of the decisions of the municipal council.