Dozens Of ‘Naked’ PETA Supporters In Coffins Protest Bullfighting In Pamplona

For Immediate Release:

5 July 2013

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

London – Wearing little more than “bull horns”, 48 caring individuals from around the world lay in individual coffins in Pamplona’s main square on Friday – just before the start of the Running of the Bulls at the San Fermin festival – to represent the four dozen animals who will be killed during the festival’s bullfights. The protesters held flowers and multi-lingual signs that read, “Bulls Die Bloody Deaths in Pamplona”, in a stark reminder to festival-goers that the same bulls who slip and slide down Pamplona’s cobbled streets will all meet an agonising death in the town’s bullring.

“In this day and age, it’s appalling that sensitive animals are still being tormented and killed in front of a screaming crowd”, says PETA campaign coordinator Kirsty Henderson. “PETA is joining with compassionate people from around the world in condemning this cruel blood sport – and in urging tourists to stay far away from the bullfights.”

As shown in PETA’s video narrated by Spanish music superstar Charo, each bull used in fights is speared, stabbed and weakened until, finally, a matador attempts to sever the exhausted animal’s spine with a dagger. Sometimes, the bull drowns in his own blood before the dagger comes into play – other times, he’s still alive as his broken, bleeding body is dragged out of the arena.

Bullfighting has been on the decline for years, with attendance decreasing and bullrings closing across bullfighting countries, as more and more people put animal welfare first. Seventy-six per cent of Spaniards say that they have no interest in this barbaric ritual, and the industry survives only because of huge subsidies and tourists who unwittingly fuel the abuse.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.