Madrid (AFP)

With bullfights canceled, the new coronavirus in Spain has dealt a blow to bullfighting, a popular spectacle based on an expensive and perishable product, the fighting bulls, many of which were sent to the slaughterhouse in this disastrous year.

"It is a complete drama for bullfighting," said AFP from his Andalusian farm breeder Juan Pedro Domecq Morenés, whose bulls had to fight in five bullfights canceled in recent weeks.

Even if the country is preparing for deconfinement, the whole bullfighting season, from March to October, is threatened by the ban on built-up areas still in force.

Bullfighters, banderilleros and rejoneadors (riders) thus find themselves out of work while breeders and organizers of shows judge the catastrophic situation for a sector which gives nearly 20,000 performances per year, between arena shows (some 1,500) and streets.

The fragility of this activity lies in the perishable nature of the bull which can only fight for up to six years in the arenas, and seven years for street parties.

Raising such a cattle costs between 4,000 and 5,000 euros, an investment of which the breeder recovers 90% by selling the animal for a show. Sending to the slaughterhouse only allows to recover 10% of the placement: a ruinous alternative which could force him to give up breeding.

"The incomes fall to zero, there are only expenses left and it is not like a factory that one can stop, because it is necessary to continue taking care of them, to feed them", summarizes Juan Pedro Domecq which estimates that "between 30 and 40%" of its 130 animals will go to the slaughterhouse.

For the moment, he has kept the eight employees on his farm, assigning them to tasks such as raising pigs. But if the season is canceled, he could lose up to 600,000 euros according to his calculations.

In a report, the Union of breeders of fighting bulls, which represents 345 farms, estimates the losses at more than 77 million euros. This corporation warns of the "devastating effects on combat bull farms" which "generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs" in the highly depopulated areas of central Spain.

- Calls for help -

For the empresarios, the situation is "quite dramatic", says the former French matador Simón Casas, director of the arenas of Madrid, Valencia and Alicante, and president of the National Association of Organizers of Bullfighting Shows (ANOET).

He points to the losses caused by these cancellations for cities like Seville, deprived of its "feria" in April, Valencia, without bullfights after the cancellation of the Fallas celebrations in March, or Pamplona, ​​which will not San Fermin in July.

However, the organization of these events is "very important in economic terms, because when there are bullfights there are ferias, and ferias are the economic support of a large number of activities: tourism in general, catering, hotel ... "

Entertainment companies have spent the winter organizing these events, he recalls, but with the pandemic, "everything stopped" when it came time to recoup their investments.

The losses for the bullfighting entrepreneurs could amount to 700 million euros according to M.Casas, also director of the arenas of Nîmes.

Faced with the disaster, the Union of breeders asked the government for "direct aid" and other measures such as lowering the VAT on the selling price of bulls.

For Simon Casas, the main thing is that the banks facilitate cash flow and also avoid "permanent unemployment" to "keep companies in working order until the resumption of activity".

The Ministry of Culture told AFP that it is studying the adaptation of general measures to this sector, such as bank credit guarantees or partial and subsidized unemployment plans.

But Juan Pedro Domecq already fears the disappearance of many farms and, looking further, is convinced that "it will be necessary to reinvent itself" by promoting tourist visits in the farms so that the public knows the fighting bull "as the cultural attraction that it is".

Resigned, the matador Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez recognized on Cope radio that a confined bullfighter "is a salon bullfighter". For his part, Simón Casas says he feels idle in the face of this situation which has already forced him to put "unemployed" the 500 employees of the Las Ventas arena in Madrid.

However, the empresario remains hopeful, because after the tragedy of the coronavirus, "people will want to be entertained".

© 2020 AFP