From the five Latin American countries that have a bullfighting industry, Ecuador seems to be the third most bullfighting country.

There are historical documents that show that there was already bullfighting in Ecuador in 1576 and this activity possibly started as early as 1551. Today, the industry has 25 permanent bullrings (the biggest is the Plaza Monumental in Quito, which holds 15,000 seats), at least 32 breeding farms for 'bullfighting bulls', and two bullfighting schools: in Quito and Riobamba.

Quito’s bullring has been run by the company CITOTUSA for a long time, but it is owned by the Banco Pichincha. The main bullfighting season in Quito is during the Feria de Quito Jesús del Gran Poder, from the last days of November to the beginning of December. The 'best' bullfighter wins a small statue, a reproduction of the Christ in Quito's Franciscan monastery.

In Guayaquil, bullfighting is organized since 2005, but not in a bullring (they do not have any), but in the sports coliseum 'Voltaire Paladines'. The mayor is trying to develop a fan base to be able to build a bullring, but his plan is not working, since not many people go to the bullfights, and there is always a demonstration against it during every bullfight.

Bullfighting is legal in Ecuador because there is not any national animal protection legislation that prohibits this or any other cruel activity towards animals. There have been attempts to introduce animal protection legislation, the last one by Dr. Ramon Rodriguez (although it excludes bullfighting), which is still 'stuck in the bureaucratic system'. Local legislation, however, has produced some results, such as the decision of the Municipality of Cuenca (in 2005) to prohibit the killing of the bull in public, which made the bullfighting industry leave the city, and the decision of the Council of Guayaquil (in 2008) to prohibit the access of minors to bullfights, and actually enforcing it.

Also, a 2008 ban on transmitting bullfights between 6 AM and 9 PM (before 'watershed time') on TV was imposed by the TV regulator body CONARTEL (Consejo Nacional de Radiodifusión y Televisión de Ecuador), although it seems it is not completely enforced yet.

Baños de Agua Santa became the first municipality in America to declare itself anti-bullfighting, in 2007. In April 2010, the municipality of Loja followed suit. However, Baños still organizes bullfights, something which animal protection organizations are trying to stop.