Dundalk woman joins 100 activists to highlight 'torture' of bulls in Spain
An Irish woman was among nearly 100 PETA and Anima Naturalis supporters who gathered in the centre of Pamplona today ahead of the controversial Running of the Bulls at the San Fermín festival.
Wearing little more than fake bull horns and black underwear with the words "Stop Bullfights" painted on her body, Grace McKeown from Dundalk joined protesters in the centre of Pamplona.
"Torturing and killing animals can never be justified as entertainment," said McKeown.
"We stand united with the vast majority of Spanish people, who don't support bloody bullfighting spectacles."
The chanting protesters simultaneously broke "banderillas" containing red powdered paint above their heads, covering themselves and filling the air around them with "blood".
The fiestas of San Fermin are celebrated from the 6th to the 14th of July.
It has become internationally known for the Running of the Bulls, where the bulls are lead through the streets of the old quarter as far as the bull ring by runners.
"Animals should be respected and protected, not chased by a crowd into an arena to be tormented, speared, and stabbed," says PETA Director Elisa Allen.
"Bullfighting has no place in a civilised society. PETA is calling on kind people around the world to reject this bloody spectacle, and we're urging Pamplona to join the more than 100 Spanish cities and towns that have banned it."
In a press release, PETA pointed out that prior to the Running of the Bulls, electric prods and sharp sticks are often used to torment the bulls.
They describe the run where the animals slip and slide along the narrow streets, pursued by hundreds of people, before ending up in the bullring.
"There, as many as eight men taunt, beat, and stab a single bull with daggers and harpoon-like banderillas until he becomes weakened from blood loss," they said.
"Then the matador stabs the exhausted bull with a sword, and an executioner cuts the animal's spinal cord,
"Many bulls drown in their own blood when the matadors' aim is inaccurate and the sword pierces the lungs instead of the heart" they added.
PETA went on to claim that, often, the animals are paralysed but still conscious as they are chained and dragged out of the arena.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
