Peru has animal welfare laws but there is a clause that exempts cock and bull fighting as it considers them "cultural shows."

The decision taken by the seven magistrates sitting on the Constitutional Tribunal is not open to appeal. "The law didn't receive the necessary votes to declare it unconstitutional," said the court's president Marianella Miranda, one of three magistrates to support the case brought by animal rights activists.

They needed five votes to ban the practices, which have been popular activities in Peru since the Spanish colonization.