Activists Protest Against The Gruesome Running Of The Bulls Festival

 54 PETA animal rights activists grabbed buckets filled with fake blood and doused themselves in it to protest the gruesome tradition of Running of the Bulls in the city of Pamplona, Spain.

This was done with the intention of showing the butchery of the 54 bulls that are made to run the streets every year. 

The activists have been protesting this inhumane and barbaric act since the past couple of years, a few days before the actual event takes place. According to the group AnimaNaturalis, 54 bulls are killed every year in the event after they’ve been paraded through the streets, taunted, tortured and finally butchered to be served as meat all across the city in restaurants.

The bulls are usually jolted with electric prods or stabbed with sharp sticks to torment them before letting them loose on the streets.  They are also drugged with strong tranquilizers which makes them all the more agitated. They then race through the streets obviously scared and intimidated by the amount of people, before finally being led into a ring where crowds gather to watch them. The matador after a lengthy bout of aggravating the animal, finally stabs the bull with a sword to end the festival.

These protests have been held by PETA activists since the past 15 years. They say their main aim is to stop bull-fighting and then subsequently put an end to the Running of the Bulls tradition too. This tradition has been taking place since several years in different cities of Spain.

It goes without saying that these protests have been at the receiving end of some major flak from the locals. Many people have criticized the protests as a way of trying to create a rift between communities and to abolish an age old tradition. The event has been popularized so much so that there are escort companies which escort runners especially for the festival from over the world. Unbelievable!

But on a more positive note, locals say that the tourists flocking to the cities of Spain during the festive season since a couple of years have different things in mind. They say that the tourists these days are more focused on getting sloshed and having a good time rather than taking part in thee atrocities. That being said, it can still take some time till these horrible practices are put to rest.

Till then, all we can hope is for more and more people to come ahead and stop these barbaric rituals in the name of tradition!