Ending the Bullfight: How PETA Latino Is Taking Action Across Mexico
PETA Latino is taking the anti-bullfighting front to the streets! In partnership with Animal Heroes and the coalition México Sin Toreo, we held powerful protests in three major cities in Mexico—Querétaro, Guanajuato, and San Juan del Río, where local advocates have been working tirelessly to push for state bans on bullfighting. Together, we’re making it clear: Torturing animals for spectacle has no place in Mexico (or anywhere).
PETA Latino’s eye-catching demonstrations featured “bullfighters” in wicked masks tormenting a defenseless bull mascot—a provoking reminder that every year, humans slaughter thousands of bulls in these cruel events. Other advocates on the scene held up bold signs that read, “Bullfighting Is Violence” and “Stop Bullfighting.”
In Querétaro, PETA Latino held a press conference to support Representative Claudia Gayou’s legislative initiative to revoke the unconstitutional designation of bullfighting as cultural heritage in the city. Then, in collaboration with Animal Heroes, we took our striking performance to the iconic Plaza los Arcos, where we showed passersby what really happens in a typical bullfight (or as we call it, bloodbath).
During bullfights, assailants on horses drive lances into a bull’s back and neck before others plunge banderillas into his back, inflicting acute pain whenever he turns his head and impairing his range of motion. Eventually, when the bull becomes weak from blood loss, a matador appears and attempts to kill the animal by plunging a sword into his lungs. A knife is used to cut his spinal cord. The bull may be paralyzed but still conscious as his ears or tail are cut off and presented to the matador as a trophy, and his body is dragged from the arena.
In Guanajuato, PETA Latino and Animal Heroes organized the demonstration in support of Representative Sergio Contreras’s legislative initiative to regulate bullfighting in the city by banning the torture and killing of bulls—mirroring recent reforms in Mexico City. Guanajuato is the most violent state in Mexico, and the governor, Libia García, has implemented a plan to combat violence, including animal abuse, but she is excluding bullfights.
In San Juan del Río, we´re urging the city to cancel the two bullfights scheduled during the Feria de San Juan del Río 2025, because animal abuse is illegal under the Mexican Constitution, and the bullfighting ring does not meet the security measures needed to be safe for the people. Animal Heroes has also filed several lawsuits to stop these violent events.
While bullfighting isn´t explicitly banned in 25 Mexican states, it has now been outlawed in Sonora, Guerrero, Coahuila, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, and Michoacán—and PETA Latino will continue pushing for more states to follow suit.
What YOU Can Do To Help Bulls
Bulls are curious, social, and protective of their herds. These sensitive animals feel pain, fear, and suffering when humans violently slaughter them for “entertainment.” Public opinion in Mexico is shifting, with the vast majority of the population opposed to bullfighting. It’s time for legislators to do right by bulls and prohibit this blood sport.
If you’re in Mexico, contact your representatives and urge them to support a nationwide bullfighting ban. Never attend a bullfight, and urge your friends and family to do the same.
