07/10/2021
What You Don’t Know About the Running of the Bulls
Most tourists who go to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, seem oblivious to the fact that these animals will be dead in just hours.
The Running of the Bulls is a deadly event held at the San Fermín festival every year during the first week of July. Each morning, a rocket is launched to terrify six bulls—who are naturally high-strung and skittish—so that they’ll charge onto city streets lined by screaming tourists, who frequently hit them as they pass. The panicked animals slip and slide down the narrow streets and often smash into walls, sustaining broken bones and other injuries. This violent atmosphere encourages violence against women as well. There are numerous reports of sexual assaults during the “festivities.”
The entire spectacle is really a death march.
Every evening, one by one, the bulls are forced into the bullring. Each bull first faces the picadors (men on horses), who jab him with a lance. It’s thrust into his back and neck muscles, then twisted and driven deeper to ensure significant blood loss.
Next, banderilleros (men with brightly colored harpoons) plunge their weapons into the bull’s back, causing intense pain. They make him run in circles until, dizzy, disoriented, exhausted, and weak from blood loss, he gives up.
Finally, the matador (which means “killer” in Spanish) enters and attempts to kill the bull by stabbing him in the back with a long sword, aiming at his aorta or lungs.
Only a coward stands over a bleeding, exhausted, dying animal and stabs him to death—and then demands applause.
Because of local and international opposition, the number of official bullfights in Spain and other countries has been decreasing . When tourists stop visiting the city during the festival, organizers won’t have the funds to continue this deadly event
We no longer tolerate gladiators fighting lions to the death. So why are we still letting matadors torture bulls to death?
This isn’t entertainment. This is a ritualized ex*****on of an innocent victim. And it’s wrong.
