"Bull fight" is an inadequate translation for the event. At the heart of it, it is in fact a ritualistic killing to depict the dominance of man over nature, and the Spanish do not apologize for this. In Spain, the corrida is not reported in the sports pages of the newspaper, but rather in the cultural section, much as with the arts in a US paper.
There is much going on in a corrida that those not familiar with the event will not see or understand. There are rules, and as with all rules there are people who break them. The bulls are supposed to be watched before the event by people from the ranch they come from. (A corrida is usually 6 bulls, 3 matadors killing 2 each, and usually all the bulls are from the same ranch.) The bulls are guarded to prevent the them being drugged, their horns shortened or blunted (changing their horns messes them up something like suddenly changing the distance from mound to home plate would screw up a baseball pitcher. Neither the bulls or the pitcher would be as effective.), or putting Vaseline in their eyes to cloud their vision. But, cheating of this sort does occur. Spain is Spain, and matadors don't want to get killed.
It is true the bulls are weakened by the picadores. But if they overly damage the bull by doing more than weakening the neck, they are booed with derision. The banderillas are placed to "adjust" the bull, but also for the matador to watch and determine if the bull comes low, high, right, left, etc., much as one "scouts" an opponent. Sometimes the matador places the banderillas himself. In the middle stages of the "fight" the matador proves his skill and bravery by how close he allows the bull to pass him as he works the cape. When it comes time to kill the bull, the matador uses not a large cape, but a small red one called a muleta. In order to properly kill the bull, the matador must show that he has control of the bull well enough to go in over the horns, exposing himself as he places the sword. If he does not do this, but instead comes from the side, he is booed with derision and is said to have "assassinated the bull."
I write all this not to defend, but to provide context. A corrida properly viewed is about the matador showing his mastery and bravery. It is not about taking pleasure in watching an animal being tortured. But, at the end of the day, it is in fact a ritualistic killing, and it is bloody, it is difficult, and things often go awry. Often, the bull is not killed cleanly. And sometimes, as in this case, people are injured or killed.
How one feels about all this is up to them. But we should at least understand the thing, even if we choose to condemn it. To dismiss it as a crowd of perverted people enjoying an animal being tortured is uninformed.
Hunting is different. Any hunter I respect wants the animal to die as quickly and painlessly as possible. Every animal is going to die. Considering all the ways nature ends life, dying at the hands of a good hunter is one of the most humane for an animal. By definition, the timing is sooner than another way, but the end should be humane. I don't know anyone who wounds an animal for pleasure or to provide an opportunity to practice their tracking skills, and I would not tolerate such a thing. But, as noted already by others, sometimes the killing part of hunting does not go well. When it does not, we should consider our part in why it happened and endeavor to not let it happen again.
Comparing any type of hunting, even dangerous game hunting, to a corrida makes no sense to me.
