Several Argentine animal rights groups are fighting against the approval by the Deliberative Council of Malargüe (a city on the border with Chile) of cultural gatherings and traditional games, including those of “soapy pig” and “chicken race”. which “border on cruelty” according to activists. “This ordinance is absolutely retrograde and against everything in the fight against the abuse of animals in our province,” said the animal advocates. The game of the soapy pig “is cruel, since it consists in running and catching an animal completely soaped with detergent in such a way that a horde of children and women pounce on the poor animal subjecting it to beatings, suffocation, fear, stress, basically torture” “We understand and accept that traditions and culture (they date back to the 1700s and 1800s, ed.) must be protected and safeguarded – the animal rights activists continue – but the abuse and suffering of animals is not culture, it is torture'”.
