Throwing bulls into the sea: the controversial tradition that many would like to see brought to an end… 

Including most of the members of Javea Connect I believe!

Bous a la Mar (“throwing” bulls into the sea) is an event that has brought controversy for years in the towns where it is practiced.

Being that the bull is an animal that does not know how to swim, later they have to help it out and this is sometimes not possible, so some have drowned as happened last July in Dénia, echoing the news in multitude of media.

The bull is not the only victim at these festivities, let’s remember that numerous people have died this summer, not counting the hundreds of people injured, including minors, and that all this violence can also be seen by children from the stands.

In Jávea, there was a  collecting signatures on the Change.org platform to ask the Town hall and the festival commission to suppress the Bous a la mar, knowing that its next celebration would be from August 31st to September 5th.

The petition with the title: ‘Bous a la mar and Bous al carrer: torture disguised as culture and tradition’ ensures that the interests of animals are not looked at in these festivities.

It already has more than 65.000 signatures against these festivities, affirms that the Consistory spends thousands of euros of taxes on mistreating animals, when the vast majority of the population does not attend because they reject them and want another type of celebrations without cruelty towards animals.

It is proposed to invest the money in cultural and entertainment events, including music concerts, fine arts workshops, exhibitions, movie clubs, softcombat tournaments, homemade crazy car races, gymkanas… and suggests “enclosures” for a transition giant balls or people disguised as inflatable bulls”, as has been done in other towns.

“Willing to meet with culture and celebrations to propose alternatives”

“I, as the creator of the petition, along with Denia Animal Save, met a few months ago to deliver the signatures to the Mayor of XàbiaJosé Chulvi, in addition to taking them to the City Council registry with the intention of presenting them to the Valencian Courts shortly.”

“We are willing to meet with the departments of Culture and Festivals of the Jávea City Council to propose and develop alternative celebrations that include all the citizens of Jávea and tourists, to finally change to festivals that the vast majority really like and are suitable for all. Interesting events that can even sponsor and subsidise brands, attracting healthy tourism to the town.”

This request has been echoed by associations such as the Animal Save Movement, Anima Naturalis, PACMA, Animal Dignity, etc. from which a demonstration has been called on Next August 27 at 18:00 p.m. in the Port of Jávea to make passers-by aware of the cruel practices that are carried out inside the enclosure that lead to the death of the animals and so that citizens can also join the cause and express their wishes to make a change to healthier and more free of animal abuse.

Anti-bullfighting collectives.