BULLFEATHERS AND THE MONTREAL SPCA

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1999:

MONTREAL––The first
“bloodless” bullfight in Montreal since
1973 was held as scheduled on August
21. Montreal SPCA president Pierre
Banoti initially allowed the SPCA’s
name to be used in promoting the fight
in exchange for 25¢ per ticket sold.
After an e-mail and fax campaign
by the Global Animal Network
and the July/August ANIMAL PEOP
L E editorial made the deal known to
the worldwide humane community,
Banoti claimed Quebec law did not
allow the Montreal SPCA to prevent the
fight. Therefore, he said, he cut a deal
with the bullfight promoter to raise
$7,500 to send the bulls to retirement
post-fight at the hobby farm of a former
Montreal SPCA board member, instead
of to slaughter. But the former board
member withdrew her offer to take the
bulls after the deal became controversial––and
after activists told media that
they would monitor the bulls to ensure
they were not sold to slaughter later.
The Montreal SPCA, under
Banoti, claimed credit for preventing
ing another scheduled “bloodless” bullfight
as recently as August 1998.
U.S. anti-bullfighting campaigner
Steve Hindi joined Montreal
activists for several days of protest.