Thousands support campaign not to slaughter mother of bull that killed Spanish matador Victor Barrio

The death of a Spanish matador of Saturday by bull goring renewed public interest in the sport of bullfighting, but at the same time elicit vile comments about the tradition and bullfighting. One such tradition is the slaughtering of the mother of a bull that killed a matador.

The aim of the cull is to "kill off the bloodline," reports The Telegraph. However, PACMA, an animal rights political party, sought public support to save Lorenza, the mother of the bull, Lorenzo, which killed 29-year-old matador Victor Barrio.

People shared their sentiments on social media about the planned slaughter of Lorenza. Using the hashtag #SalvemosALorenza, PACMA’s tweet was shared over 3,500 times and elicited more than 1,000 comments online in Twitter and Facebook.

The tweet reads: “No rite, tradition or custom based on a succession of deaths, fed by the blood and hatred, can be good for any society.” PACMA adds, “We only know one ethical end to all this: the total abolition of bullfighting festivities.”

Many agreed with PACMA’s proposal that enough blood has been shed, both human and animal. Ian Bryant notes that whatever way the bullfight ends, it is “deplorable in every way,” since if man wins, the matador is a hero, but if the bull wins, the animal is a murderer and even its mother gets killed.

Lisa McNulty agrees that bullfighting is not a sport but a “cruel & sickening act.” Karin Witowski tweets, “This ‘sport’ is even more stupid and cruel than I thought.” DavinaLeeDoran suggests getting the hashtag to tend to ban and shutdown the “sick twisted ‘sport.’”

Louis Amore proposes to “Kill the sport not the #mother.” Laura Frederiksen refuses to call bullfighting a sport. Megan points out that “If you taunt them you should expect them to get angry.”

Before Barrio, the last matador killed by a bull was 21-year-old Jose Cubero whose death Madrid mourned. The Telegraph notes that when his coffin was parade around Madrid’s main bullring, 15,000 people waved white handkerchiefs, while vehicles stopped as his body was brought to a cemetery a mile away.

However, because of the emerging negative public opinion on bullfighting, Barrio’s Facebook page was deleted likely due to the “shocking abuse posted on the page.” One pro-bull commenter wrote he hoped that Barrio suffered a much-deserved long, painful death. Another addressed the post to Lorenzo, the killer bull, which he hopes would be able to “slowly torture to death in front of a baying crowd of savages” more matadors.

Laura Dixon wrote that she had no sympathy for Barrio since “Bullfighting is beyond wrong” and the matador’s had “a death well deserved.”

The British daily describes netizens who celebrate Barrio’s death as equally as cruel as those who watched the fight in the bullrings since both take pleasure from another’s pain. It adds, “extending this hatred, as some did, to those leaving messages of sympathy, is frankly barbaric.”

VIDEO: Victor Barrio Bullfighter death reaction