Written by PETA
Update: Even though the town has said "No" to this bull run, the organizer is still planning on having the bull run on private land, despite the public outcry calling for the run to be canceled.
Hats off to officials in the Arizona town of Cave Creek for revoking a permit sanctioning a bull run when the organizers failed to procure sufficient insurance coverage. This may be enough to stop the event, since it means that liability for any injuries now becomes the responsibility of the promoter and the owner of the local ranch where the run is supposed to take place.
In Pamplona, the bull runs end in cruel bullfights.
PETA had contacted the mayor and town council and let them know that modeling an event after Pamplona's annual bull run would be cruel and unsafe. Bulls would be antagonized into racing at breakneck speed, which would put them as well as participants and spectators at risk.
Please thank Cave Creek officials for taking public safety and cruelty to animals seriously.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
More than 100 supporters of PETA U.K. and the Spanish group AnimaNaturalis lay naked and "bloodied" in Pamplona's main square on Sunday to protest the cruel bull runs and subsequent bullfights, in which bulls are tortured and killed during the city's annual festival of San Fermín.
They aren't the only ones exposing Spain's shame. Sexy Spanish celebrity Elen Rivas recently stripped down for a graphic PETA U.K. ad to discourage tourists from attending bullfights when they visit Spain.
EasyJet deemed Rivas' ad to be too gruesome for its in-flight magazine.
Most Spaniards – including those in my hometown of Barcelona, where bullfighting was recently banned – are opposed to the barbaric blood sport, and PETA and I are urging British tourists not to be fooled by the industry's propaganda ...
“Bulls can do nothing to demand justice. They can only defend themselves as best they can in a fight with a pre-determined ending and die never knowing why they were forced to endure such a painful and prolonged death,” wrote PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk in a recent Huffington Post blog. “It's up to us, as a civilized society, to call for an end to the Running of the Bulls and bullfighting.”
Written by Jared Misner
Hats off to the University of South Florida (USF) Federal Credit Union for pledging not to hold future promotions of the cruel Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, after PETA explained how bulls suffer for the spectacle. Several USF students and alumni complained to PETA that the credit union was holding a "Best Bull" contest that referenced the Running of the Bulls and offered a trip to Pamplona as a prize option.
In its letter, PETA explained that people often use electric prods to force the bulls to run through the cobblestone streets, causing the animals to slip and suffer broken legs and other injuries. After they are driven to the ring, the bulls are tortured to death by being repeatedly stabbed in the neck and back before the matador kills the weakened, bleeding bulls with a sword.
After reading PETA's letter, USF Federal Credit Union President and CEO Richard Skaggs told us that his organization would not have promoted the Running of the Bulls if it was aware of the cruelty involved and that it will not reference the event or offer the trip as a prize in the future.
Seventy-two percent of Spaniards oppose bullfighting. The only thing keeping the fights alive is tourist dollars. Please opt for travel packages that don’t include bullfighting, and educate your travel agency if it offers bullfights as an option.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Whether you believe in karma or payback, in 2010 we saw that for every action there is a reaction. We've rounded up the top six "Payback Is Hell" stories of 2010. It's safe to say that animals are just as tired of cruelty to animals as we are.
Written by Mirisa Roy
Of course, I'm not talking about the tormented bulls—I mean the intoxicated bullies who were trampled on the second day of Pamplona's weeklong San Fermín festival. Reporters, who were apparently channeling their inner Hemingway, described the bulls as "angry," "threatening" "hulking beasts." I think those terms better describe the people who goad animals into a terrified stampede, don't you?
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything heroic or brave about terrorizing animals just for the thrill of it. It seems like the truly courageous people are the ones who stripped to their undies to protest Pamplona's annual exercise in stupidity and cruelty:
Now that takes some cojones.
Written by Alisa Mullins
Before the drunken partiers filled Pamplona's streets today to kick off the annual Running of the Bulls tormenting of bulls, scores of animal defenders from PETA U.K. and the Spanish animal rights group AnimaNaturalis creatively banded together to put the bulls' perspective in the picture.
During this annual celebration of torture, bulls are jabbed with prods and sharp sticks to whip them into a frenzy. Then the panicking animals are stampeded through crowds of people, slipping and stumbling on the wine-soaked cobblestone streets. The exhausted bulls are later prodded into the bullring, where they are stabbed to death.
The majority of the Spanish population no longer supports this cruelty. In 2004, the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city, and 40 other Spanish towns have followed suit. State-run Spanish television has also stopped televising the violence.
Let's call the Running of the Bulls what it really is—sickening cruelty to animals—and call on Pamplona's mayor to ban it.
Written by Karin Bennett
Alarms went off at PETA when we learned that filming for Tom Cruise's upcoming movie, Knight and Day, included the use of live animals to recreate Pamplona's infamous and cruel Running of the Bulls. The Mirror reports that seven bulls used for the production in Spain escaped and injured two women.
We hope that Mr. Cruise will share our concerns when he learns how animals suffer in the annual Running of the Bulls. As human runners and spectators gouge the bulls with sticks and pull their tails, many bulls slip on the pavement and/or slam into buildings, breaking their horns and legs. In their desperate attempts to escape their tormenters, bulls sometimes gore and trample people. As if that weren't enough cruelty, bulls later dragged into the bullrings are repeatedly stabbed and bled to weaken them by bullfighters who sever the animals' spines while the animals are fully conscious.
Will Tom Cruise do as we've asked and use his influence and help bulls by encouraging producers to cut the scene from the film? I believe that PETA's effort is definitely a Mission ImPossible. What do you think?
Updates will follow.
Looks like a lot more fun than this:
Written by Shawna Flavell
Celebrate by watching this Creole (not cruel) "Running of the Bulls."
For the first time in nearly 15 years, a human has died after being gored by a bull at the Running of the Bulls.
How many bulls have died this time around as a direct result of being gored by humans?
All of them.
Every year, all bulls who are sent charging down the narrow, winding streets of Pamplona end up in the bullring. We're not talking about one bull here. We're talking hundreds and hundreds over the course of 15 years.
Nobody has died at the Running of the Nudes.
You do the math.
Watch video footage of the Running of the Bulls and goring here.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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