# Bull beats matador just before killing stroke delivered. Does the bull get to live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bull-beats-matador-just-before-killing-stroke-delivered-does-the-bull-get-to-live/251911 "2004-06-24T00:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bull-beats-matador-just-before-killing-stroke-delivered-does-the-bull-get-to-live/251911/1 "2004-06-24T00:36:11Z")
…or does he still get killed after the fact? Per this story. It does not relate the fate of the bull. [Top Spanish Matador Gets Gored, Trampled During Bullfight](http://www.local6.com/news/3452234/detail.html) > [@](#): > > One of Spain’s top bullfighters was gored, thrown and trampled by a bull, leaving him with a 10-inch gash through his leg. Enrique Ponce, 32, was preparing to finish off the animal at a bullfight Tuesday evening in the southeastern city of Alicante when the incident occurred. > > The bull tossed him into the air, then trampled him as he covered his head with his hands. Ponce initially wanted to keep fighting but was carried from the ring before fainting. > > Ponce underwent emergency surgery at the bullring. Doctors said the bull’s horn pierced through Ponce’s right thigh. He also fractured his collarbone and two ribs. > He might be hospitalized for another two days, although he won’t be able to fight for up to six weeks, chief surgeon Jose Maria Reyes said Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bull-beats-matador-just-before-killing-stroke-delivered-does-the-bull-get-to-live/251911/2 "2004-06-24T00:46:20Z")
> [@astro](#): > > …or does he still get killed after the fact? My guess is that no, he doesn’t. I believe by the time the coupe de grace is about to be delivered, the bull has already been stuck with a number of knives which have opened up major veins and arteries to weaken it substantially. So unless the bull was rushed off to surgery along with the matador, I expect he expired from the previously inflicted wounds. The above is based on some reading on the subject some years back, and my actual attendance at one bullfight, about a decade ago. So I’m certainly open to correction. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bull-beats-matador-just-before-killing-stroke-delivered-does-the-bull-get-to-live/251911/3 "2004-06-24T00:47:50Z")
**sorry, sorry!!!** That first sentence in my last post should read “Yes, he does get killed”. I was looking at the thread title, not the opening sentence of your post, **astro** , when I wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bull-beats-matador-just-before-killing-stroke-delivered-does-the-bull-get-to-live/251911/4 "2004-06-24T00:55:04Z")
I am by no means a bullfighting expert, but I did used to watch it when living in Spain. If he really was preparing to finish off the bull, then it already been stabbed by spears and had several banderillas, which are barbed spikey things, stuck into the flesh on the back of his neck. He’s already bled a great deal and is in considerable pain. There have been times where I’ve seen the matador sort of rush the “killing stroke” because the bull was about to drop dead well before they’d done all the cape-twirling dancing around bit. If the bull puts up a good fight, it’s supposed to be able to “win” and go back to the farm. However, what I usually saw was if a matador couldn’t take down the bull a better matador would come out and finish it off. Because of all the stabbing and bleeding, it was usually pretty much a mercy killing at that point. I watched in the vain hope that one day they’d get a bull that would strike a blow for bulls everywhere and take out a matador or two, but the game’s really stacked against them. This guy must’ve really screwed up. Yay for that bull. I hope he did get to live.