Campaigners see red over boy bullfighter

SHOCKED campaigners in France are trying to stop a child bullfighter from performing, saying he is risking his young life in the ring.

Local authorities in southern France have cancelled two recent shows where Michelito Lagravere, 10, was due to appear, but other performances have gone ahead, with Michelito showered with flowers by fans.

It is part of a bigger battle — French animal rights groups versus bullfighting — which is a tradition in southern France as in neighbouring Spain, and has a small, but passionate, French following.

For Michelito, the passion started young, about as soon as he could walk. Born in Mexico to a Mexican mother and a French bullfighting father, he started playing at being a torero — using a dishcloth as a cape — when he was just a tot, his father said.

He was four the first time he faced off against a month-old calf. Now 10, he has fought about 60 animals to the death, his father says. Videos on the internet show him in the ring with injured, staggering calves — not to mention Michelito being trampled.

“Am I afraid?” asked his father, Michel Lagravere. “I’m afraid like all fathers are afraid for their children. ... it’s like all other sports. It’s more dangerous than playing chess, if that’s considered a sport. But I don’t think it’s more dangerous than horseback riding and riding competitions.”

In Mexico, where Michelito lives, loose laws governing child bullfighters have attracted young matadors from other countries — including one Spanish bullfighter, Jairo Miguel, who was nearly gored to death last year at 14.