Running of the bulls in Spain

On top of having little regard for the wellbeing of bulls, it seems the Spanish government also has little regard for the wellbeing of human beings. This is surely a time when even those who have little time for Health & Safety would welcome it.

I wouldn't want to see anybody hurt on these bull runs although I agree that people should have the sense to see it's inevitable that someone is likely to be hurt or killed. In my opinion, when such an activity has become part of a country's tradition, people don't even see the cruelty involved because it has become part of the national psyche. Many a cruel act has been accepted in the name of tradition. Hopefully the tide will eventually turn. In some parts of Spain bull fighting is banned - something which would have been unthinkable years ago.

We have an RSPCA in this country but it was unable to stop fox hunting - it required political initiative - and now there is talk that it will be made legal again even though it would appear that the majority of people disagree with it.

Many years ago, when a gung ho student, my ds took part in the Pamplona bull run. The numbers are supposedly limited. The men get a head start to run and then the young bulls are released. There are supposedly safe areas, boards to go behind if in danger from the bulls.when he arrived home with white T shirt, white trousers with red sash (blood streaked), I just about lost all reason for his stupidity....And of course the morals of the matter.

And there is some grim religious (supposedly Christian) ceremony that takes place (?also in Spain) whereby people get slashed with glass shards during a procession. I remember a programme about it with a man standing there bleeding and talking about how he was looking forward to the day when his four year old son could take part - for goodness' sake!

Bull run should definitely be stopped. It is gross.

But then bullfighting is also grim.

Luckygirl that ceremony takes place in Italy, I watched the programme with an Italian friend who remembered being taken to see it as a child.
He said he had nightmares for months but the family members who took him though it was a great honour to take part.
Wierd.
His English Father was furious when he found out he had seen it.

I find it incredible that this sort of thing is still allowed to go on in the name of tradition. I don't know much about Spain's animal rights laws, but surely if a domestic animal was mistreated in this way something would be done? One would hope anyway.

The comedian Ricky Gervais is quite an active voice for animal rights and although I don't always enjoy his shows, I really respect him for speaking out about this and a number of other issues to do with cruelty www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/08/17/bull-fighter-is-killed-in-spain-criticism-of-the-sport-begins_n_7997576.html

I have to confess to a silent cheer when the bull claims a "gore". Will never understand the sadistic pleasure gained from this tradition or the French shooting wild birds, or American Dentists killing lions and other wild animals, or fox hunting or deer stalking or mass shooting of game birds or clubbing of seals or harpooning wales and so on and so on ......

We get hunting around us - always close the gates when the hunters are about or sometimes their dogs come in. The hunters here have to belong to a group and they have a specific area they can hunt. Each group is given an allowance of each animal they can kill and strict records are kept. There are severe consequences I understand if they go over their quota. The animal they kill is always eaten - a large animal such as wild boar or deer is shared within the group. It is also a method of culling around here as the boar are very dangerous animals and too many would cause a problem. A female boar with young is particularly dangerous and if she feels threatened and gives a certain noise she gets back up - which is very dangerous. Too many deer would cause a feeding problem.
Both those animals do cause damage to the crops etc - and to gardens if they get in - as we know!

do they eat foxes and badgers too. I think you'll find that with wild boar there is no limit on numbers, at least not where I live.

But back to the OP- those who get gored or killes in bull fights and bull running, will get none, zilch. zéro, de nada, di niente, niet - sympathy from me. Sick and tired of all this cruelty going on in the name of 'tradition', here, there or anywhere.

Quite some controversy in France about wild boar. On the one hand hunters say they are too numerous and have to be culled/hunted. On the other hand, hunters feed them copiously during the harsh winters to keep the numbers high. ????

Bull runs and bull fighting are absolutely gruesome, cruel and like others, I simply don't understand why these 'traditions' haven't been stopped.

Culling foxes, badgers and deer for example may be necessary at times but should be done as humanely as possible. I confess to finding culling animals I find both interesting and beautiful, just a bit sad. All that cruel treatment of bulls isn't just sad, it's disgusting.

Humans' relationship with animals is strange to me. Animals are both companions and also food; we both subject them to acts of gross cruelty and also pamper them; we spend millions on saving a species, whose source of food is another species - so we put another species at risk. It is all beyond me,

I agree Luckygirl, it is completely irrational. We use and abuse and torture them daily but weep over a single animal, even one we don't know like Cecil the lion. I suspect humans are the odd species out and it might be better for the other species if we were to become extinct.

I truly see what you are saying- and I feel the same at times. Some people who will as you say 'weep' for a single animal- will at the same time try to source the cheapest meat possible- not ever wondering about the poor husbandry, long transport and inhumane slaughter.

And yet, Cecil the lion is not just 'Cecil' but a symbol for all the other lions and wild animals being shot with arrows or bullits as trophies. And in the case of bull running or fighting- we are seriously talking abou tens of 1000s of animals per year.