Francesca Capozzi An experiment conducted years ago in an arena continues to be shared, showing a different nature of bulls. Animals, generally calm, can become violent in defense if provoked or abused by those who use them as a form of entertainment
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We tend to brand animals as aggressive without rightly going into the details. Many people consider the bulls to fall in this category, thinking that they are inherently violent. Is it really so?
Once upon a time, there was an instructor who tried to refute these concepts with an experiment which, to this date, remains memorable. The teacher took 40 students and ushered them into an arena.
Standing in a row, apart from each other, and not moving, was followed by the release of a young bull in the arena. Nobody was prepared for its reaction.
The bull ran through the rows of kids from side to side in the arena. During this experiment, the bull did not show any aggressive behavior. In the background, the calm instructions of the teacher reminded them not to move until the test was over.
He was trying to show that bulls will not attack unless disturbed or coerced into some sort of dangerous situation.
This is not a scientific experiment, of course, but it retains its symbolic strength, though one could note the bull did look quite young.
Events involving the direct antagonizing of bulls, such as bullfighting or running with staged bulls, like Pamplona’s San Fermín bull run, include intentional and harmful interactions with the matadors and runners. This should not make one forget that, very often, the basis of animal aggressiveness is deeper and may be linked to some hidden forms of violence.
Animal welfare groups press breeders of bulls with accusations of brutal practices in order to infuriate bulls that end up getting tortured at these events. According to PETA, “Bulls are prodded, branded, mutilated and selected to be more aggressive for entertainment”.
Such gorings and serious injuries are common incidents during such cruel spectacles. But none of that took place in the experiment conducted by the teacher. Even if it was a young bull, its instinct was not to attack the people but find a route of escape.
As most of the protection groups define, bulls are quiet and peaceful creatures.
