Animal rights group appeals to Spain´s new PM to end barbaric sport

AN ANIMAL rights group is using a new video depicting barbaric cruelty towards an injured bull to appeal to Spain’s new prime minister to ban bullfights and bull runs.

In the video, the bullfighter in Bilbao is seen repeatedly stabbing a bull in the skull as the animal convulses repeatedly in agony on the ground, blood pouring from its head during an event last September. 

Animal welfare group PETA released the 45-second video this week as it launched a petition calling for the grisly sport to be banned.

The petition appeals to Pedro Sánchez, who was re-elected in a general election last week, to step in and outlaw bullfighting.

According to PETA, every year thousands of bulls endure a bloody death in bullrings across Spain. A spokesman said: “These deaths are slow and painful: men on horseback and on foot drive lances and barbed sticks into bulls’ backs before the tormented animals are stabbed with a sword or dagger.”

At the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, terrified bulls are shocked with electric prods to force them out onto the streets, where they are harassed by screaming mobs.

The panicked animals often slip and crash into walls, the spokesman said, resulting in broken bones and other injuries. The bulls are later then barbarically killed in the bullring – something many tourists do not know.

The spokesman added: “Compassionate people understand that this violence is needless and unjustifiable, and opposition to bullfighting is growing both within Spain and around the world.”

PETA said it was time for the Spanish government to step up and protect animals.

Around 100 towns across Spain have banned bullfighting and in July 2010 Catalonia voted to stop the practice.

According to an Ipsos MORI poll, over 80 per cent of Spanish people oppose the cruel event as attendances at many cities has fallen in recent years.

PETA’s letter to Pedro Sanchez described how the animals die ‘slowly and painfully’ during a bullfight.

It reads: ‘Bullfights are immensely cruel events in which thousands of animals are slowly and painfully killed across Spain every year.

‘Attackers on horseback and on foot drive lances and sharp sticks into bulls’ necks and backs, and when the animals have become weakened by blood loss, a matador finally kills them with a sword.

‘Bulls also suffer in bull runs, in which they’re forced to run through the streets while being harassed by a terrifying mob. 

‘The panicked animals often lose their footing and crash into walls, breaking bones and otherwise injuring themselves.

‘Please listen to the voices of people in Spain and across the world and ban bullfighting and bull runs now.’

In July, 54 activists lay naked ‘dead’ in Pamplona’s main square calling for an end to the city’s Running of the Bulls and bloody bullfights.