A famous Spanish bullfighter has angered fans after he carried his baby daughter into the ring with him during a training session.

Francisco ‘Paquirri’ Rivera posted a picture to Instagram showing him holding the infant in one arm while teasing a bull with a red cloth.

The image, captioned “Carmen’s debut, this is the fifth generation that fights bulls in our family”, resulted in a complaint from a child protection agency.

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Bullfighting is a controversial national pass-time in Spain, which some see as unnecessarily cruel to bulls and dangerous for fighters.

Mr Rivera was recently gored in the groin by a bull but has since recovered.

In Andalucia, where Mr Rivera resides, a local child protection agency labelled the practise of bringing his two daughters into the ring as “a situation of unnecessary risk for a minor and a decision that we totally reject,” and said it had taken the case to juvenile prosecutors.

However, Mr Rivera rejected the claims, saying his daughter was safe in his experienced hands.

“My daughter has never been safer. I’m a bullfighter, I live for this and I dedicate 365 days a year to it,” he tweeted.

“She didn’t face the slightest danger for even a second.”

The Spanish Bullfighter’s Union defended Mr Rivera’s actions, arguing the bull was young and that bringing young children into the ring was a long-held bullfighting tradition.

Mr Rivera’s father was gored to death in Andalucia in 1984, while his grandfather Antonio Ordonez was considered one of the greatest bullfighters of all time.