Minglanilla Fighting Cow Rescue: Why We’ve Offered an Alternative to Slaughter
- Miguel Aparicio
- Aug 23
- 4 min read
By Miguel Aparicio, Founder, Namigni Animal Sanctuary
A Spanish fighting cow escaped Spain's Minglanilla festivities and faces slaughter. Namigni Animal Sanctuary has offered to buy her and give her a home in Colombia.
A young Spanish fighting cow who escaped during the festivities in Minglanilla, Spain, on 15 August 2026 was found days later on a nearby farm and now faces being put down. As soon as we learned about her situation, at Namigni Animal Sanctuary, through our Reserva del Toro Bravo, we have made a formal offer to prevent that: to buy her, give her a safe temporary home, and eventually bring her to the sanctuary in Colombia. Here is why, and how.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A heifer escaped Minglanilla’s festivities on 15 August 2026 and was found calm, having harmed no one.
The town plans to sedate and put her down through the standard administrative route.
Namigni has offered a no-cost alternative for the town: buy her, shelter her, and move her to Colombia.
The offer is made in a spirit of dialogue, including cooperation with the cattle-breeding world.
As of today it is an open offer, contingent on the authorities and the owner.
What happened to the Minglanilla heifer
On 15 August 2026, during the town’s summer festivities, a young Spanish fighting cow broke loose, slipped through the bars of a safety barrier and ran for open country. For days no one could find her. When she finally turned up, on a private farm outside town, she was calm and had harmed no one.
Why she faces being put down
Once she was located — and with a direct intervention ruled out because she posed no danger to the public — the town settled on the standard administrative procedure for these cases: sedate her, move her to the local bullring, and put her down. This kind of story plays out every summer, in dozens of towns, and it almost always ends the same quiet way. This time, when we learned about her story, we decided it didn’t have to.
The alternative Namigni has offered
We are not here to shame the town, which is facing a real problem with limited means, and we are not waging a campaign against anyone. We do what we know how to do: offer a way out that ends with the animal alive. We filed formal requests with the town council and the regional veterinary authorities, asking first that no irreversible step be taken while a genuine alternative is on the table:
Buy the heifer legally from her owner, if needed.
Arrange a safe and suitable place for her in the meantime.
Handle the administrative and health paperwork, and the costs.
In time, bring her to our sanctuary in Colombia, alongside the other rescued brave cattle already in our care.
Why we work through dialogue, not confrontation
This is exactly what the Reserva del Toro Bravo exists for — not for noise, but for the work. Taking responsibility for an animal like this (buying, sheltering, moving and caring for her over years) is difficult, expensive and slow, which is why almost no one does it. There is no shortage of voices that shout; there is a shortage of hands that actually rescue, even one of these animals. That is the gap we fill.
And we fill it through dialogue. If this heifer is saved, it will likely be with the help of people from the cattle-breeding world itself — people who have a direct, practical relationship with these animals and who are often more willing to help than anyone expects. We believe far more is won for animals through dialogue than through confrontation. Confrontation makes headlines; dialogue makes for living cows.
Where things stand now
We won’t dress this up. Right now this is an offer, not a happy ending. We don’t yet know whether the authorities will agree, or whether we’ll be in time. It may work, or it may not. But the offer is real, it’s on the table, and we intend to keep pushing while there’s a chance.
How you can help
If you’d like to follow what happens to her — and, if it moves forward, help us make it possible — you can do that here. We can’t save them all. That is exactly why we intend to save this one.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the Minglanilla heifer?
She escaped during the bullfighting festivities in Minglanilla, Cuenca, on 15 August 2026, went missing for several days, and was found on a nearby farm, calm and having harmed no one.
Why does she face being put down?
After other options were ruled out, the town plans to sedate her, move her to the local bullring and put her down, following the standard administrative procedure for these cases.
What has Namigni offered to do?
A formal offer to the town council and veterinary authorities: to buy the heifer legally if needed, shelter her safely, cover the paperwork and costs, and in time bring her to its sanctuary in Colombia.
Can a cow be moved from Spain to Colombia?
It requires health permits, export and import authorisations and quarantine. It is a long process, but one with precedent: fighting cattle have been exported from Spain to Colombia for decades.
How can I help?
You can follow the case and, if the offer moves forward, support Namigni Animal Sanctuary through a future link on this page.
About Namigni Animal Sanctuary
Namigni Animal Sanctuary, Inc. is a U.S.-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates a sanctuary in Guasca (Cundinamarca, Colombia), home to more than 200 rescued animals.
Through its Reserva del Toro Bravo, it rescues and protects cattle bred for the bullfighting tradition, working from a position of dialogue with the cattle-breeding world to find solutions in which the animal is always the beneficiary.
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