06/06/06 For the Ban of the Massacre of Bulls
Animal Friends protests in front of the Spanish Embassy against bull runs and bullfights
In Spain, over 40 thousand bulls are tortured and killed every year, primarily for the sake of tourists, who come from all over the world, Croatia included, and to whom cruelty against animals is offered under the name of tradition and cultural programme. 95% of tourists would not repeat the experience of seeing a bullfight, while 87% of Spanish people think it is wrong that the animals should suffer for the sake of entertainment and profit.
Animal Friends invites the citizens of Zagreb to join the protest in front of the Spanish Embassy, Tuskanac 21a, which will take place on Tuesday, June 6, 2006, at 11:00 A.M., and demand the ban of bull runs and bullfights. Beside banners and messages emmitted through the megaphone, the activists will demonstrate the barbarism of the bloody tradition with a performance of bull killing.
In this way, we will join more than 17 protests all over the world, which call for the tourist boycott of Spain until the Spanish authorities realize that mutilating and killing animals can no longer be accepted as entertainment in the 21st century, but rather a disgraceful remnant of primitive customs from the past, which should be banned forever. The protest also officially announces the Naked Run, which will take place in Pamplona early in July, two days before the traditional annual bull run and bull slaughter.
Matador, which means "killer" in Spanish, brutally mutilates and kills a bull that is confused, mangled, mentally tortured, and physically compeletly exhausted. The animals are intentionally debilitated to the extreme by being beaten in the kidney area and weeks before the fight they must wear exceedingly heavy objects around their necks. The bull enters the arena almost completely blinded, since he has been kept in complete darkness 48 hours before the "fight." Then he is severely hit on his head with sand bags in order to dumben all his senses. After he is exhausted by being chased in circles, by charging at his opponents and hitting the obstacles, picadors on horses pierce his back and neck muscles with spears of the bull in order to make him lose a major quantity of blood. Then come the banderilleros on foot, who run around the bull and pierce him with more spears. When he is completely weakened by the loss of blood, the banderilleros force him to continue running in circles until he becomes dizzy. After that, the matador continues to torture the dying animal with his sword, after which he generally calls in the executor to finish off the agonizing bull. Often the bull is left entirely conscious, though completely paralized, while he is dragged out of the arena.
Apart from the bulls, horses should also be counted among the victims of the brutal fighting, since they are drugged, their eyes are tied, their ears stuffed with wet newspaper in order to damage their hearing, and their vocal cords cut in order not to disturb the spectators with their screams. Often the blows are so severe that they collapse onto the ground.
Spanish protests against the bull runs and bullfights is on the increase. Bullfights have been banned in tourist centres such as Barcelona, Torello, Calldetenes, Olot, Tossa de Mar, Vilamacolum, and La Vajol. In Mexico, bullfights are banned in the town of Jalapa.
Animal Friends demands that the new Animal Protection Act should ban all animal fights. Bull runs and bullfights are very far from being culture or tradition that should be kept alive: they deserve to be condemned by the entire world and banned at once.