Spain: Protest Against Barbaric Bullfighting Festival
Activists protest against the bullfighting festival in Pamplona. The tradition is criticized as barbaric animal cruelty.
Dozens of animal rights activists dressed as dinosaurs were on site on 5 July 2022 to protest against animal cruelty at the world-famous San Fermín bull run in Pamplona.
At Tuesday's protest, the dinosaurs were meant to represent the bulls and the mob behind the San Fermín revellers. The activists carried placards reading «Bullfighting is prehistoric«. They said the aim was to show that bullfighting events could be held freely and without animal cruelty.
It was the 18th annual protest, organised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Spanish non-governmental organisation AnimaNaturalis. The protests typically take place one day before the start of the festival, which begins with the traditional «Chupinazo« fireworks at noon in Pamplona's town hall square. The runs begin on Thursday.
«Many tourists who come to the bull runs don't know that the same bulls they run alongside for a few streets are later killed in the bullring«, said Chelsea Monroe, PETA's head of digital campaigns.
«They are stabbed over and over again for 20 minutes until they are dead«, Monroe said. «We want tourists to know that their money is supporting this truly cruel industry.»
The protests do little to dampen enthusiasm for the San Fermín festival, during which Pamplona's population of 200’000 can swell to around 1 million on peak days of the nine-day event.
The festival had been suspended for the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities fear that the crowds at this year's festival could also lead to a sharp rise in infections.
The highlight of the festival is the early-morning «encierro» or run, in which thousands of people race frantically to dodge the six bulls charging along a winding, cobblestone route toward the city's bullring.
The rest of the day is devoted to eating, drinking, dancing, and cultural entertainment.
The six bulls are killed each afternoon during the festival in bullfights.
«The debate about the future of bullfighting in Spain has never been more alive, and the authorities must take a clear stance«, said Jana Uritz of AnimalNaturalis in a statement. «We call on them to show the necessary courage to say whether they support animal cruelty or, on the contrary, are prepared to ban such barbaric practices.«
Bullfighting remains widely popular in Spain, even though the movement against it has gained significant momentum in recent years. Bullfighting is only banned in the Canary Islands, while in some other regions such as Catalonia and the Balearic Islands — which include Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza — it is rarely or not at all practiced.
Animal welfare advocates cite figures from the Ministry of Culture showing that 90% of Spaniards did not attend any festival events involving bulls in 2014–2015, the last year in which the issue was studied.
