GANDAR-the beastly story!

This is the "beastly" story of "Gandar"= A legendary bull from the area covered by this map (you can click to increase size,I hope)
Gandar is immortalized in various ways, recently by the installation of a statue in stone in the village of Vauvert (see link to "Vauvertvillage").
The story goes that Gandar started his career as a perectly normal bull, at the Manade Blatiere,doing "bullish" things in the area.Around 1942 he was born, and passed into the arenas for the traditional Camarguaise festivals, and proved his worth by taking out a few of the local raseteurs (those people who try to get rings onto the bulls horn).
His career took off one day when he was being transported back home and the transporter literally exploded at the railway level crossing in the village of Vauvert. He was badly injured, one of his horns being torn off in the accident.
The owner decided that rather than having him put down, and probably sold as the main ingredient of the local dish "La Gardienne", he would nurse him back to health! The care and attention, together with his own determination to have "another go at the locals" made it possible for him to return to good health.

Of course, the locals wondered if he would ever be able to return to the arenas, with just one horn, but Gandar showed them all! A natural, beastly, intelligence, allowed him even to compensate for his handicap, by adapting his tactics in the ring, and he became so feared that the number of locals prepared to come out against him could be counted on the fingers of one hand!(On the photos you can see that the right horn is missing!)
His cunning, courage and bravour, his power in the arenas, together with his history, made him a "local hero", and he became an enormous publicity for the Courses Traditionelles Camarguaises.
For eleven years he entertained the local and Tourist publics, until in 1959 he entered the arenas for the last time.
He died, peacefully, in 1963. His statue was installed at the "Place de l'Aficion" at Vauvert, recently.
This is one of the stories which allow one to suspect that the "Tauromachie" is taken seriously, and that the animals are reasonably well treated.
Only a couple of years ago, during an "Abrivado" we had a taureau (these are Camargue bulls) who was obviously thirsty, because he invaded the local Cafe, entering one door and out of another, passing by the Bar with a "mine's a pint"! He subsequently disappeared up a side street, chased by his keepers, and wandered around the village until finally being found some 6 miles away, on the main road to St Gilles, desperately searching his home grounds!

(This gives you a link to the Regional Tourist Board at: www.camargue.fr )