The summer festival of Saint-Brès marks the beginning of village festivals and votive festivals in the metropolis of Montpellier. The speeches of this thirty-seventh edition will have a particular tone. “We invite all aficionados, tradition lovers and defenders of our cultural heritage to join this gathering,” explains Laurent Jaoul, the village mayor. He will be accompanied by Jean Lafon, the president of the herault manadiers. “This will be a new opportunity to demonstrate our attachment to our traditions and our common passion for bulls. »
In a column published on June 7 in Free lunch, Eddine Ariztegui (Animalist Party), deputy in charge of animal welfare at the city of Montpellier, has indeed solemnly asked the rectorate to prohibit school outings to herds. On these farms the tradition of bull breeding continues. And in particular the ferrade, which consists in branding the animals with a hot iron. “We denounce these practices of animal torture and this indoctrination of youth. It is unacceptable for children to take part in such activities, which do not hide a desire to desensitize them to animal suffering,” the defender of the animal cause gets carried away.
“Animal torture” vs “cultural wealth”
“The ban on school outings in the manades is a new attack against the manadiers. It’s escalation”, replies Laurent Jaoul, who denounces “punitive ecology (…) School outings in the herds offer primary school students the opportunity to discover the richness of our culture and our ecosystem up close. , thus helping to raise children’s awareness of our environment and our cultural heritage. »
On February 11, 15,000 people marched in Montpellier to defend rural life. The bouvine tradition is strong in the Hérault. It is expressed in particular by the organization of the Camargue races, where raseteurs try to recover various attributes attached to the horns or on the forehead of the bulls, without killing the animal.