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.

[6] 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.

[5] 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.

[11] Ráton's second kill was made in 2008 in the arena of Benifairó near Valencia[6] when he attacked a 27-year-old amateur matador, catching the man only two feet from safety.

[1] A video played repeatedly on Spanish television showed the unnamed man being lifted on the bull's horns before being thrown to the ground and attacked.

[12] The man's death prompted controversy; Valencian regional politician Marina Albiol accused the event organisers of "grave irresponsibility" for hiring a bull with such a record.

[13] In 2010, de Jésus proposed that Ratón be cloned and asked for financial assistance from the Generalitat Valenciana, but although he was told that the government would consider the request, no decision was made.

Responding to criticism that Ratón has "nothing special", de Jesús noted that great sporting figures have always had their detractors: "They doubt Raúl [the footballer], but there are his goals.

He attacks with short and repetitive thrusts at the same time as swinging the head to the left and right, causing all his victims a much higher number of injuries than normal in these cases.

"[13] According to de Jesús, Ratón's savage temperament may have derived from an early trauma when children locked the young bull in the dark for hours.