The effects of Portugal鈥檚 BSE epidemic are being felt in an unlikely quarter:
the bullrings of Spain. Portugal reported 104 cases of BSE last year, more than
in the previous seven years put together. The European Commission promptly
banned the export of live cattle from the country.
But 40 per cent of the 1500 bulls killed each year in bullfights in Spain
come from specialised breeders in Portugal, so matadors are now facing a severe
shortage. The bulls killed in the corrida are not eaten by humans. But
they are turned into meat and bone meal, which is fed to livestock.