MADRID - Run with the bulls, let them tumble into the sea during the chase, even stick fireworks or flaming wax to their horns - but don't kill them.
That's the line legislators in northeastern Spain drew Wednesday between protecting animals and upholding cherished national traditions.
The Catalonia region, which includes Barcelona, banned bullfighting in July, but many other bull-related traditions in which the animals are not killed continue there. Wednesday's bill, approved overwhelmingly by the regional parliament, was widely seen as a way to enshrine the customs, regulate them for the first time and buffer them against pressure to do away with them.
Defenders of the events were relieved, saying they are far removed from the bloodshed of actual bullfights.
"They could not deny us this freedom," said Pere Fumador, a bull breeder in the Ebro River Valley region where the customs are rooted most deeply.
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Some animal-welfare activists believe the vote will eventually spell the end of human thrill-seeking at the bulls' expense in Catalonia, the second region of Spain, after the Canary Islands, to ban bullfighting. They predict officials will find it impossible to regulate the often chaotic events.
Spain's centuries-old fascination with bulls, and with using the animals as a test of bravery, is part of the national identity. Bullfighting and related events are a multimillion-dollar industry, drawing many foreign tourists.
Outside Catalonia, Spaniards run with bulls in Pamplona every year, spear them to death from horseback in another northern town and cordon off town squares to let even children dodge feisty calves of the kind used to breed top-grade fighter bulls.
