Seeing Red Over Bid to Clone a Bull

Spanish matador Jos¿ Tom¿s in the ring in Valencia last week. One animal advocate cited polls showing that more than 70 percent of Spaniards disapprove of bullfighting. (By Fernando Bustamante -- Associated Press)

Del R¿o had gotten the idea of cloning a bull from the pioneering 1996 cloning of Dolly the sheep. But when he investigated the possibility back then, del R¿o said, scientists wanted about $1 million to perform the task; now, it's more affordable. If successful, it could produce Alcalde's genetic double in a year.

The bull, with his beautiful physique, long horns, good muscle tone, keen eyesight, speed and rhythm, was ideal for cloning, del R¿o said, although the 16-year-old animal has never fought in the ring and has always been a stud. Del R¿o admitted that what he's really after is replicating Alcalde's courage.

The procedure is being performed by an Austin company called ViaGen. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment on Alcalde or another fighting bull in Mexico that it has contracted to clone. The company's Web site claims it has successfully cloned racehorses, bucking bulls, longhorns, meat and dairy cattle, pigs and other animals.

Miguel Cid Cebri¿n, a former Socialist senator and member of the Spanish parliament's Bullfighting Association, which aims to protect and promote bullfighting as integral to Spain's culture, said he was skeptical about the cloning.

"You can copy the body, but not the soul," Cebri¿n said, noting that everything from the weather to the features of a bullfighting ring to the skill of the matador was vital in eliciting a courageous, spirited performance by a bull. But it was also important to be pragmatic, he said. "Sooner or later, this system had to arise, so it's not very smart to oppose the advance of science."

Cebri¿n, an attorney, said bullfighting was a "cultural and artistic spectacle," not a sport.

"The bull has the opportunity to defend himself and attack and even wound the matador, and the bull dies proving his bravery, but he must die as quickly as possible," Cebri¿n explained. "We all want a fast kill." But in the end, if people don't like bullfighting, they don't have to watch it, he said.

Dow, the bullfighting critic, disputed the notion that it's a fair fight, saying, "Bulls tend to attack -- that's their form of defense -- but they have no chance of making it out alive." Calling bullfighting an essential part of Spanish culture was "propaganda," she said, citing polls showing that more than 70 percent of Spaniards disapprove of it. It is mostly tourists who go to bullfights in Spain, Dow said, "but they only go once, because when they see how cruel and awful it is, they never go again."

But Cebri¿n said that bullfighting remains popular "because it has a lot to do with the Spanish spirit. We Spaniards like adventure and have a reputation for bravery." Still, he has not been able to pass his passion on to his children.

"They can't stand the blood, and if all you see is the blood, you don't see the beauty and excitement and the spectacle," he said. "Blood is the price for that."