Opinion on bullfighting in France 2017
Bullfighting are popular in Southern France since the 19th century. The very first French bullfight took place on August 21, 1893 at Bayonne. Since then cities like Nîmes and Arles are known as the most important venues for bullfighting in France.
French penal code clearly prohibits "cruel acts and serious ill treatment towards animals" (article 521-1) but this does not apply to regions with an interrupted tradition of bullfighting. Thus, corrida is allowed in the south of France, between Arles and the Basque regions, between the garrigue (a type of ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests) and the Mediterranean sea, between the Pyrenees mountains and Gascony.
Bullfighting in France is not only part of tradition. It is also a tourist attraction and a flourishing industry.