WATCH: Activists Leap Into Bullring to Protest Barbaric Bullfight
Pamplona, Spain – PETA has obtained video footage showing members of Vegan Strike Group jumping into a Pamplona bullring to protest bullfighting cruelty.
BREAKING: Activists leap into bullring in Pamplona to protest cruel, barbaric bullfights on the first day of San Fermin festival. #SaveTheBulls pic.twitter.com/SRdoFhXYz2
— PETA UK (@PETAUK) July 6, 2019
The activists were violently hauled away by officials moments later. The action took place during the city’s infamous San Fermín festival – during which terrified bulls are chased through the streets, mainly by tourists, before being stabbed to death in the bullring.
“The bull was terrified and in excruciating pain – I couldn’t leave him to die alone. We represent the majority of people around the world, who are calling for an end to this cruel event.”
– Peter Janssen, Vegan Strike Group
The archaic spectacle of bullfighting has fallen out of favour with the majority of Spanish people, and more than 125 Spanish towns and cities have declared themselves anti-bullfighting. But in Pamplona, terrified bulls are forced to run along narrow streets on their way to a violent death in the bullring, often slipping and sliding along the way.
Once there, men taunt, exhaust, and stab each bull with a lance and several harpoon-like banderillas until he becomes weakened from blood loss. Then, the matador stabs the exhausted animal with a sword, and if the bull doesn’t die straight away, other weapons are used to cut his spinal cord.
No living being should be slowly stabbed to death for the sick satisfaction of a rowdy mob. PETA commends this activist’s brave actions and hopes they gave the audience pause – made them stop and consider, perhaps for the first time, how archaic and shameful bullfighting is.
What You Can Do for Bulls
- Speak up. Take action to end the killing of bulls in Pamplona:
- Never attend a bullfight. Tourism is one of the industry’s main excuses for carrying on with this abhorrent bloodbath. Even though most visitors who witness the cruelty of a bullfight never, ever want to see one again, by that point, the money has been paid and the damage done.
- Don’t run with the bulls. Since all the bulls forced to participate in this cruel spectacle are eventually stabbed to death in the bullring, taking part in the Running of the Bulls supports the abuse and killing of animals.
