PETA Offers €298,000 in Bid to End the Running of the Bulls
For the second year in a row, the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain – and its infamous Running of the Bulls event – has been cancelled because of the pandemic.
Last year, PETA offered the city’s mayor €250,000 if he would commit to ending the cruel bull runs and subsequent bullfights permanently. Now, we have sweetened the pot, offering €298,000—the additional €48,000 represents the 48 bulls who would be spared the frightening stampede and a grisly death at the festival each year. We’ve also offered to place all 48 bulls who would have been tormented and slaughtered during the festival this year at a sanctuary, as PETA affiliates do for bulls in India who are the victims of cruelty.
PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk calls for much-needed change:
“People around the world, including in Spain, say it’s past time the torment and slaughter of animals for human entertainment were stopped. Now is the moment to be on the right side of history. We hope Pamplona’s mayor will accept our offer and allow the city to reinvent itself for the enjoyment of all.”
Why Ban the Running of the Bulls?
The Running of the Bulls is part of a barbaric bloodbath that takes place every summer during the Festival of San Fermín.
Young bulls are released into a noisy, chaotic mob of people and chased through the narrow streets of Pamplona. The terrified animals often crash into walls or lose their footing, sometimes breaking bones. Once they reach the bullring at the end of the route, they are mercilessly stabbed to death in front of a jeering crowd.
Many of the tourists who take part in the Festival of San Fermín don’t realise that the same bulls who slip and slide down the cobbled streets during the bull runs are later tortured to death in the bullring.
PETA and Spanish group AnimaNaturalis have protested against Pamplona’s annual bloodbath for two decades. The city’s former mayor Joseba Asirón supported the protests, calling them “fair and honest”. Speaking to reporters about the groups’ calls to remove bull runs from the festival, he said, “[T]his is a debate that sooner or later we will have to put on the table. For a very simple reason, and that is that basing the festival on the suffering of a living being, in the 21st century, is something that, at best, we have to rethink.”
What You Can Do
According to an Ipsos MORI poll, more than 80% of Spanish people oppose bullfighting. Approximately 56% fewer official bullfights took place in 2018 than in 2007 – but that’s still 44% too many. It’s time to put the final nail in the coffin of this dying industry.
Please join us in urging the mayor of Pamplona to ban the Running of the Bulls and its subsequent bullfights permanently.
