Written by PETA
It has only been a few days since bullfighting ended in Catalonia, but Spaniards are reportedly already coming up with new ways to keep matadors employed that are a lot less Conan the Barbarian and a lot more Conan O'Brien.
Also in the works: a tournament of bulls' favorite card game …?
Written by Michelle Sherrow
The last bull has been stabbed to death in Barcelona now that the last scheduled bullfight has taken place in Catalonia, the Spanish region that's widely considered to be bullfighting's birthplace. Faced with nearly empty arenas and growing condemnation of killing bulls for "sport," the ban on this sadistic spectacle officially goes into effect January 1, and bullfighting is on its way out elsewhere as well.
Curious tourists who purchase tickets or those who simply go along with what's included on their travel itinerary are the only ones keeping the fights alive and bulls dying. By the time an appalled spectator rushes out of the arena in horror, the damage has been done—and more bulls will endure an agonizing death as a result.
Travelers to Spain, Mexico, and France can help end the carnage for good by refusing to buy a ticket and letting their travel agents know that they don't want bullfights included on their tour itineraries.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
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.
As the song goes, I've never been to Spain (but I've been to Oklahoma). They say the ladies are insane there, but folks visiting Madrid's Plaza Mayor on Monday's Constitution Day holiday were still surprised—and delighted—to encounter two PETA lovelies wearing little more than body paint on the latest stop of the now-international "Animal Prints, Not Animal Skins" tour. They were eventually joined by "Charlie Chaplin" and a group of superheroes chanting, "No pieles animales!" ("No animal skins!").
But the real superheroes are the folks who opt out of cruelty by refusing to buy clothing and accessories made from the skins and fur of animals. As one woman in the crowd remarked, pointing toward the demonstrators' signs, it was "muy, muy bueno!"
Written by Jeff Mackey
Try to prove you're a man by stabbing a bull with banderillos, and you might end up with his horn in your cojones.
If this happened more often, maybe the rest of Spain would follow in Catalonia's footsteps and ban bullfighting.
Did you catch The O'Reilly Factor last night? Well, here's your chance to marvel at the spot on things Bill O'Reilly said in regard to yesterday's attempted escape—and subsequent murder—of a bull during a Spanish bullfight. This quote is just too good not to share.
"Again, there is simply no reason to have bullfights. It is blood sport. Spain and the other countries that do it should knock it off. They are pinheads for allowing it."
Written by Shawna Flavell
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
It's the eve of one of Mexico's biggest bullfights. And earlier today, María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Gutiérrez de los Perales Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Hinojosa Rasten, better known as Charo, the bodacious ray of sunshine from Spain, led PETA's anti-bullfight rally in Los Angeles. The lovely Latin music icon unveiled her new anti-bullfighting video for PETA and presented a simple, straightforward message: Don't Go to the Gran Corrida!
As a young girl in Spain, Charo went to weekly bullfights with her father, so she understands the gruesome, bloody reality of the corrida, which she's protested in her dance music video for España Cañi and her appearance on Dancing With the Stars.
"Cuchi-cuchi"* convince tourists to steer clear of bullfights? No doubt, but Charo—and bulls—need your help too.
*Two things I can't resist: Guacamole and painful puns. Sorry.
I would have liked to have titled this blog "Bull: 1, Matador: 0," but unfortunately, in the world of bullfighting torturing, even when the bull wins, he loses. Even though he clearly won this "fight," the bull in the below video was reportedly killed by other matadors after running a horn through one bullfighter's throat.
Warning: Graphic video below.
You can see still photos on The Huffington Post.
The matador, Julio Aparicio, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but is expected to recover. Wish we could say the same for the bull.
Let this serve as a reminder: Never book a trip to Spain that includes tickets to a bullfight. Better yet, don't book a trip to Spain at all until it abolishes this abomination (unless you plan to participate in an anti-bullfighting protest, of course).
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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