A 22-year-old bullfighter named Manuel Maria Trindade met a tragic end during his debut performance when he was gored by a bull and slammed into the arena wall in Lisbon. The incident occurred as Trindade attempted to provoke the 700kg animal by charging towards it and grabbing its horn, leading to him being thrown into the air and crushed against the wall in front of a large audience.
The crowd reacted with screams as Trindade lay injured on the ground while other bullfighters managed to control the agitated animals. Despite suffering severe head injuries, paramedics stabilized him initially at the scene before transferring him to Sao Jose Hospital, where he was placed in an artificial coma. Unfortunately, his condition worsened, and he passed away on August 23.
Trindade had gained recognition as a promising ‘forcado,’ a Portuguese bullfighter responsible for provoking bulls into charging. Unlike Spanish bullfighting, where the matador kills the bull, Portuguese tradition involves forcados attempting to restrain the animal by jumping onto it one by one.
The tragic incident at Campo Pequeno in Lisbon also claimed the life of a 73-year-old spectator, Vasco Morais Batista, an orthopedic surgeon who suffered a fatal aortic aneurysm while witnessing the distressing events unfold.
The debate surrounding bullfighting persists in countries where it is deeply rooted in tradition, with many people condemning it as animal cruelty. In response to criticisms following her son’s death, Trindade’s mother, Alzira Trindade, defended him as an “animal lover” in a Facebook post, highlighting their family’s love for animals, particularly dogs, and emphasizing her son’s respect for the bulls he faced in the arena.