On September 13, the bull Emmudecido returned to the bullring to the cheers of the crowd at the Arles arena. Twelve days later, he was found in the fields of the Mas de Jasses de Bouchaud, his brown coat shining under the Camargue sky. Spared by the bullfighter José Garrido during the final corrida of the 2026 Feria du Riz, the bull from Pagès-Mailhan had returned to his lands that same evening.
« The veterinarian treated his wounds, and the next day he was galloping », recounts Pierre Mailhan, son of the rancher, still moved by this first « indulto » granted to an Arlesian bull in the amphitheater of the Petite Rome des Gaules. « He has no lasting effects; he is in perfect health ».
Emmudecido will spend the rest of his life in the 300 hectares of fresh grass and marshes of the Mas des Jasses. « With the qualities he showed in the ring, he will make an excellent stud », says Pierre Mailhan.
« Emmudecido, as well as José Garrido's other bull, are among the ten best bulls I have seen this season », judges the director of the Arles arena, Jean-Baptiste Jalabert, who has attended no less than 80 bullfights this year. He was indeed surveying the Mas des Jasses de Bouchaud on Friday, September 25 with one idea in mind: to scout bulls for a new Pagès-Mailhan corrida in the Arles arena in 2027.
