Bullfighter Ivan Fandino was gored to death during a bullfight in south-west France this week, becoming the second professional to die in the ring in the last 12 months.
"It's a tragedy," a colleague told the Daily Mail. "We just do not know how it could have happened."
Saturday's fatal incident has added to calls from animal rights groups for bullfighting to be banned.
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Humane Society International called Fandino's death a "tragedy", but added: "For the 1,000 bulls brutally killed in French bullfights every year, every single fight is a tragedy in which they have no chance of escaping a protracted and painful death."
They added: "Bloodsports like this should be consigned to the history books. No one should lose their life for entertainment, human or animal."
A country divided
Fandino died in France, but bullfighting is more commonly associated with Spain, where the country is divided over its future.
"It's a cultural tradition. As something for which I risk my life for on a regular basis, it demands respect and bullfighting is going through a crucial time," Juan Diego Vicente, president of Spain's bullfighters' union, told the BBC in 2016.
Last year, the country's constitutional court overturned Catalonia's controversial ban on bullfighting, which was imposed by the regional government in 2010.
Of the 12 judges, nine ruled the Catalan parliament had exceeded its authority in banning "one more expression of a cultural nature that forms part of the common cultural heritage".
However, last September, thousands of activists took to the streets of Madrid to demand an end to the tradition after a ban, reports in The Guardian.
Art not sport
Spanish defenders of the corrida argue that the English translation of "bullfighting" is wrong because they perceive it not as a sport but as an artform. Spain's conservative government also appears to take this view and bestowed cultural status on bullfighting in 2015.
It claimed the tradition is responsible for 57,000 jobs and brings in more than £1.2 billion to the economy, reports the Daily Express.
But is it on the way out? According to government figures, only 9.5 per cent of Spaniards went to a bullfighting event, either professional or amateur, in 2015.
And although polling in Spain on the issue is infrequent, a 2010 survey by El Pais indicated that 60 per cent of people did not enjoy bullfighting, compared to 37 per cent who did.
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