Peru could move to prohibit bullfighting under a bill introduced by lawmaker Azucena Isla Rojas in late October. The proposal would amend the country’s animal protection and welfare law, which currently excludes bullfights from its scope on cultural grounds.
The bill would revise Article 22 of Law No. 30407 to include bullfights, cockfights and similar spectacles in the ban when they involve cruelty, unnecessary suffering, injury or the death of an animal. It would remove the exemption that has prevented the law from being applied to bullfighting.
Bullfighting is established across Peru, where hundreds of events take place each year. The country has about 200 bullrings, and major events include Lima’s Feria del Señor de los Milagros, held in the capital for eight decades. Bull-related traditions are also part of cultural life in Andean communities.
A previous effort to ban bullfighting was rejected by Peru’s Constitutional Court in February 2020. The court said the law did not allow such a measure. Later that year, Lima’s municipal council adopted a symbolic motion making the absence of animal cruelty a public-interest goal, but it had no regulatory force.
The proposal may attract support beyond Rojas’s party, which holds close to a quarter of parliamentary seats but does not have a majority. The report says lawmakers from other left-leaning parties could also back it. No vote has been reported yet.
The bill comes amid growing opposition to animal cruelty among younger people in large cities, particularly Lima. The source also notes that Colombia approved a bullfighting ban in 2024, due to take effect on January 1, 2027, while other countries and jurisdictions in the region have adopted restrictions or ended bullfighting with the killing of the bull.
Sources: Le Figaro.