The maximum duration of “touradas à corda” (bullfight on rope) is reduced in 30 minutes, starting on Thursday, “to meet the concerns o animal welfare.”
Under the terms of a Regional Legislative Decree, published in the Official Journal on Wednesday, the “touradas à corda” in the Azores should have a maximum duration of three hours and the “handling” of each bull has a minimum duration of 15 minutes and a maximum duration of 30 minutes.
These new rules were stipulated in the first amendment to the diploma that establishes the legal scheme regarding the activities subject to municipal licensing in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, which was approved last February by the Legislative Assembly.
From now on, it is also possible to organise non-tradition bullfights on any day of the week in order to avoid the accumulation of several bullfights during the weekend.
Nonetheless, the recently published diploma only authorises the organisation of one bullfight in each village or adjoining villages within the same municipality on the same day.
There are currently 158 classified traditional bullfights distributed on Terceira (115), Graciosa (25) and S. Jorge (18).