Animal Aid Abroad & Namigni Expand Partnership: Protecting Spanish Fighting Bulls in Colombia
While fighting bulls and working equines face very different circumstances, both are animals whose lives and welfare are heavily influenced by human activities. Animal Aid Abroad’s mission is to improve the treatment and welfare of animals that suffer as a result of human use, dependence, or exploitation. By extending our support to rescued fighting bulls, we are applying the same principles that guide all our work: preventing suffering, providing care and rehabilitation, and ensuring animals have the opportunity to live healthier, safer lives.
Some of the rescued Spanish fighting bulls and cows protected at Namigni Animal Sanctuary
Animal Aid Abroad, with the generous support of our patron Philip Wollen, has expanded its partnership with Namigni Animal Sanctuary. Alongside our ongoing work delivering monthly mobile clinics and emergency rescues for working equines across rural Colombia, we are now launching a dedicated program to address the urgent needs of Spanish fighting bulls and cows in the country.
With Colombia’s national bullfighting ban set to take effect in July 2027, many of these animals face abandonment or slaughter once the arenas close. Together, AAA and Namigni are stepping in to rescue and protect them, providing sanctuary, veterinary care, and dignity at a time when they risk being discarded without support. Namigni is already safeguarding 16 Spanish fighting bulls and cows, including orphaned calves, at its sanctuary — a foundation on which this new program will build.
Pandora, a rescued Spanish fighting cow at Namigni Animal Sanctuary
Why this matters
While AAA’s primary mission is supporting working animals essential to human livelihoods, Janet Thomas, our CEO, reminds us: “Regardless of whether animals are used in essential livelihood activities or for entertainment purposes, AAA believes that all animals deserve protection from unnecessary suffering, mistreatment, and exploitation.”
A Spanish fighting bull and a bullfighter in a public bullfighting show
What this program will do
Rescue operations: Identifying discarded bullfighting bulls and cows at risk in the wake of the ban.
Sanctuary care: Providing safe pastures, veterinary treatment, and lifelong dignity at Namigni.
Community engagement: Promoting a constructive response to the end of bullfighting and the importance of ensuring that these animals are kept safe.
Global solidarity: Extending AAA’s mission to protect animals exploited for entertainment as well as labor.
Together, AAA and Namigni are proving that local partnerships are the key to global change — turning trauma into care and ensuring that both working equines and rescued fighting bulls in Colombia live with compassion, dignity, and hope.
Khalifa, one of the orphaned baby Spanish fighting bulls rescued by Namigni Animal Sanctuary
