Pic of Baby in Bullfighting Ring Has Spain Seeing Red

Even if Spain celebrates "Take Your Child to Work Day" like we do, people are shocked over a matador's decision to bring his infant daughter into the bullfighting ring. Francisco Rivera Ordonez, called the "David Beckham of bullfighting" in the Sydney Morning Herald, is catching heat for an Instagram photo he posted showing him fighting a bull with his 5-month-old daughter in his arms, the Guardian reports. Titled "Carmen's debut," the pic has generated plenty of outrage, with people online calling Ordonez an "idiot" and "irresponsible," per the BBC. "If I were your wife, I'd kill you," one message read. Ricky Gervais, who the BBC notes is a staunch animal-rights advocate, tweeted: "Mental, dangerous & cruel. With or without a baby." The Andalusian child protective agency is now looking into Ordonez's antics, with an ombudsman office saying the pic showed a "situation of unnecessary risk to a minor."

"A fireman wouldn't dream of taking a child to put out a fire, nor would a football player run around with a child in their arms during a match," a Spanish pol tells the Guardian. But Ordonez, who followed up with another pic of his own dad holding him as a child in the bullfighting ring, says Carmen is "the fifth bullfighting generation in my family" and that "there is no safer place for her to be than in my arms." (The BBC notes Ordonez's dad was gored to death by a bull at age 36.) Other bullfighters have been backing him up, posting their own pics to social media showing them in the field with their own kids. "What's the problem in showing our children a profession that we love and is filled with values?" one cape-clutching comrade wrote on Twitter. (Mexico has had at least one exceptionally young bullfighter.)