Ratón

Ratón

Poster advertising Ratón's appearance at Ricla's bullring on 24 July 2010
Species	Bos taurus
Sex	Male
Born	April 2001 Sueca
Died	24 March 2013 (aged 11)
Nation from	Spanish
Owner	Gregorio de Jesús
Parents	Caracol (bull), Fusilera (cow)
Weight	500 kg (1,102 lb)

Ratón ("Mouse" in English) was a Spanish fighting bull that was nicknamed el toro asesino (the killer bull), el sangriento toro (the bloody bull) and el terrible Ratón (the terrible Mouse) for killing three people in bullfighting rings in Spain between 2006–11 and injuring thirty more. The bull became legendary in Spain due to the large number of gorings for which he was responsible. Bullfighting fans regarded him as a star and traveled from across the country to see the morlaco (big bull) at his home at Sueca near Valencia. Matador Jesús Esteve said of Ratón: "He is a killer. He is lazy, he doesn't want to participate. He does his own thing, waiting for somebody to make a mistake. And then when he gets you, he wallops you, and he doesn't let up."

Due to Ratón's fame, bullfighting clubs paid exceptionally high fees of up to €15,000 to feature him in their events. In 2010, for instance, the municipality of Ricla hosted Ratón during a festival in honour of St. Mary Magdalene, paying €9,000 – nine times the normal fee for a fighting bull. The bull's fame was so great that, as in the case of the Ricla fiesta, he was given star billing on advertisements. Although the organisers had to pay very high fees to see Ratón perform, the bull's owner asserted that the outlay was worth it: "[H]e works out the cheapest because wherever he goes organizers double the ticket price."

Born in April 2001, 500 kg (1,100 lb) Ratón was the offspring of a bull named Caracol and a cow named Fusilera. He was given his name for his diminutive size as a calf. He first appeared in the bullring in September 2002 and gored a matador for the first time in Canals, Valencia, in 2004. As well as participating in bull running in the streets (encierros in Spanish), Ratón also often performed in the recortes, a style of bullfighting in which members of the public dodge the bull around obstacles such as wooden stairs or platforms placed in a bullring. At one such event held in Museros in 2005, Ratón gored a dozen people and injured several more in another event at Yátova in 2006.