Graphic images have revealed the grisly fate of bulls at this year’s San Fermin festival in Pamplona as activists urge tourists not to participate in the spectacle.
During the fiesta, which lasts from July 6 to July 14, bulls are run from the city’s corral to the bullring each morning before they are slaughtered by matadors.
Campaigners liken the practice to torture and are calling for it to end, which they believe will be easier to achieve if tourists stop flocking to the city’s famous runs.
Dozens of bulls are slaughtered each year during Pamplona’s San Fermin festival in elaborate displays that activists liken to torture
The bullfights star with picadors mounted on blindfolded horses strapped with body armour. The bulls are encouraged to charge the horses, while the picadors spear them (pictured)
A picador is thrown from his horse after being charged by a bull in Pamplona. It is not uncommon for the horses to be injured or killed
They believe that visitors are unaware the city’s bull runs are is linked to the sport of bullfighting, because few who take part in the run stick around to witness the bull’s grisly deaths later in the day.
Bullfighting is perhaps the best-known part of the San Fermin festival which takes place between July 6 and July 14 in Pamplona, in northern Spain.
Starting on July 7, bulls are run each morning from the Corrales de Santo Domingo near the Arga River to the bullring of Plaza del Castillo.
The same bulls are then forced to take part in bullfighting events that afternoon, during which they are slowly killed in elaborate and lengthy displays.
Marta Esteban of Animal Guardians said that the handful of foreign tourists who did end up at the bullring often left soon after, appalled at what they had seen.
In the second stage of the fight, the bulls are speared with banderillas – two barbed sticks which are placed into the shoulders to weaken the neck muscles
Matadors exhaust the bulls further by getting them to charge in a series of passes, which ends with them thrusting a sabre through the bull’s shoulders and aiming to pierce its heart
Once the sabre has been thrust the bull is usually fatally wounded, but may take several more minutes to die. Often, a puntillero is brought in to sever the bull’s spinal chord with a dagger
‘Most only go to the running,’ she said, ‘they probably don’t even now that there are bullfights. Some go and come out shortly after, disgusted.’
Ms Esteban added: ‘We believe most tourists ignore that the running of the bulls implies suffering for the animals, but most of all they ignore that the bulls are then tortured and killed in the ring.
‘The running of the bulls is cruel enough, according to veterinarian studies. Bulls are not built to run and this causes a lot of harm to their bodies, not to talk of the injuries when they fall, and the stress and fear.
‘But worse awaits for them in the ring in the evening.
‘Spain has so much to offer: culture, nature, beaches, crazy parties like the Tomatina of Buñol… why go for something that implies atrocious suffering to these bulls?
While few tourists attend the bullfights themselves, many attend the running earlier in the day, which campaigners say contributes to the animals’ horrible deaths
A puntillero stabs a bull through the neck to finish it off after it was earlier stuck with banderillas and run through with a sabre
‘Why support something that your own country would never allow?’
The running of the bulls wrapped up on Sunday, having attracted tourists from across the world including NFL star Josh Norman.
Carmen Ibarlucea, from La Tortura No Es Cultura said: ‘The bulls not only suffer the stress and injuries of the run, but afterwards they are tortured in a terrible way in the ring.
‘The world must know this black aspect of the festivities of San Fermín.
‘Therefore, we ask citizens from around the world not to participate in the run, and to instead mobilize in aid of these animals.
‘Let’s not abandon them to such a cruel fate. Ask the Pamplona City Council to eliminate bullfighting after the run.’
Tourists are being urged not to take part in the any of the spectacle, including the running of the bulls, which activists say is also cruel to the animals
Those who want to see the bullfights scrapped are asked to email the local authorities at pamplona@pamplona.es