Francisco Rivera Ordonez, one of Spain’s most famous bullfighters, posted a picture on his Instagram account three days ago. It became the talk of social media.

It shows Ordonez training with a bull, while holding his five-month-old daughter in his arms. The caption read: “This is Carmen’s debut, the fifth bullfighting generation in my family. My grandfather did the same with my father, my father with me and me with my daughter Cayetana, and now Carmen.”

At the time of going to print, his picture had already received over 3,300 comments, some positive, but mostly negative.

Tonya Sophrosyne Harris shared the picture on her public Facebook profile and wrote: “When you dislike bullfighters to begin with, as they are no different than the people who promote and watch dog and cock fights, but to see this person with his daughter in hand? Words cannot describe the thoughts going on in my mind.”

Montserrat Martin, a Spanish national and animal rights activist based in Dubai, was not pleased with this post either

She told Gulf News: “This tradition might be hundreds of years old, but humans are evolving. If 200 years ago bullfighters were bringing their children into bull pits, why does this man want to do the same and encourage his daughter to familiarise with a sport that requires hitting and killing an animal for fun? It’s animal cruelty. This incident should be looked into by social services because he’s also jeopardising his daughter’s life for the sake of culture.

“If you do a search on YouTube of bullfights, you will find a lot of videos where the bullfighter has been killed or even dismembered within seconds. Meer bulls are famous for their temperament and it’s a large animal that cannot be controlled. You don’t put your children at risk for traditions.”

Many social media used the opportunity to raise their voice against animal abuse and asked for a ban on bull fighting altogether.

Sky Valencia‎ wrote on her Facebook page: “Really Spain? When are you going to change your traditions? Bullfighting is not a fight, it’s slaughter!”

This incident has also raised other questions in people’s minds, one of them being, would you take your child to an unsuitable work environment?

Prashant Bhatia, a business professional based in Dubai, said that if he was left with no choice, he might consider taking his one-month-old daughter to his workplace.

He said: “If a situation arose wherein I had to take care of my daughter, in my wife’s absence, I would first look for a nanny. But, if nothing worked out, I would take her along because the environment is very safe. But, in the case of the Spanish bullfighter, it is extremely unfair. He cannot put someone’s life in danger, especially his own daughter’s. He should be more responsible!”

source : gulfnews