MORE THAN 100 NEARLY NAKED PROTESTERS CREATE ‘RIVER OF BLOOD’ OUTSIDE PAMPLONA’S BULLRING

For Immediate Release:

4 July 2015

Contact:

Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 235; [email protected]

MORE THAN 100 NEARLY NAKED PROTESTERS CREATE ‘RIVER OF BLOOD’ OUTSIDE PAMPLONA’S BULLRING

Stripped-Down PETA and AnimaNaturalis Supporters Call for an End to Cruel Running of the Bulls

London – Earlier today, the entrance to the bullring in Pamplona, Spain, ran red with “blood” ahead of the Running of the Bulls – thanks to more than 100 PETA and AnimaNaturalis supporters who sprawled in the street wearing little more than blood-red bodypaint. Among them, activists wearing only “bull horns” reminded passers-by that dozens of bulls face injury as revellers chase, strike and terrorise them on their way to their eventual death in the town’s bullring.

“The protesters’ ‘river of blood’ where bulls are pursued and beaten before being stabbed to death in the bullring offers citizens a new look at an archaic, shameful spectacle”, says PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi. “PETA is calling on Spain to end its widely condemned Running of the Bulls event – and, with it, the horrific suffering and abuse of bulls.”

Photos of the protest can be found here and here.

Prior to the Running of the Bulls, electric prods and sharp sticks are often used to torment the bulls, who also may be debilitated by tranquilisers. The animals slip and slide along the narrow streets, pursued by hundreds of people, before they end up in the bullring. Once there, as many as eight men are set against one terrified bull to taunt, beat and jab him with daggers for approximately 15 minutes – until the matador ultimately stabs the exhausted animal with a sword. PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – points out that many bulls drown in their own blood when the matadors’ aim is inaccurate and their swords pierce the animals’ lungs instead of their hearts.

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

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