There have been calls to ban bullfighting after a Spanish matador tripped on his cape and was fatally gored by a bull in south-west France, local media reported.

Ivan Fandino, 36, was rushed to hospital but later died from his injuries, Spanish news agency EFE reported.

Fandino stumbled after tripping on a cape used in a turn to engage and distract the specially-bred fighting bull, and the animal then pierced the matador's side with one of his horns, EFE said.

The Humane Society International called for the sport to be banned.

"The matador's death is a tragedy, but for the 1,000 bulls brutally killed in French bullfights every year, every single fight is a tragedy in which they have no chance of escaping a protracted and painful death," Humane Society International's head of campaigns in Australia Nicola Beynon said.

"Blood sports like this should be consigned to the history books, no-one should lose their life for entertainment, human or animal."

Fandino is the second Spanish bullfighter to die in the ring in the past year.

Victor Barrio was killed after being gored by a bull in front of spectators last July — the first time since the early 1990s that a professional matador had died in the ring in Spain.

Every year several people die in Spanish summer festivals involving bulls running through towns or being chased in the countryside, which often attract tourists.

ABC/Reuters