28 people have been injured while taking part in bull runs at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona this year.
During the seven-day festival, bull runs are performed every day on a half a mile long narrow street which ends in Pamplona’s bullring, where the bulls wait for the afternoon’s bullfight.
According to Sky News, Spanish health officials have reported 28 separate injuries this year with the final run injuring six people.
Tomas Belzunegui, a spokesman with Navarra’s provincial hospital, confirmed Saturday’s run, which was the fastest of the festival, left the six badly bruised after they were trampled.
One of the six was reportedly carried away on a stretcher after being dragged for several metres by a bull when his scarf became hooked on its horn.
Two of the 28 were gored by bulls, but this year, there were no casualties.
The running of the bulls is the most notorious event at the San Fermin festival and takes place every day at 8am and involves hundreds of people running in front of six bulls and six steers down an 825-meter stretch of narrow streets.
The event’s highly dangerous and 15 people have died since the it first began in 1925.
The last person to die at the running of the bulls was 27-year-old Daniel Gimeno Romero, who was gored to death in 2009.
Romero was taken to a hospital immediately where he was rushed into surgery, but doctors were unable to save him.
The running of the bulls and the subsequent bullfight remain extremely controversial.
Opponents of the run argue the running is stressful for the bull and can end up hurting them, while animal rights advocates, consider bullfighting a cruel and barbaric blood sport which involves slowly torturing an animal to death.
David Bowles, the RSPCA assistant director for public affairs told The Huffington Post:
The RSPCA is strongly opposed to bullfighting. It’s an inhumane and outdated practice that continues to lose support, including from those living in the countries where this takes place such as Spain, Portugal and France.
ANDER GILLENEA/AFP/Getty Images
Proponents of the blood sport however, argue bullfighting is a piece of living history and a tradition stretching all the way back to the Roman Empire, and as such, needs to be maintained.
Furthermore, they claim more bulls die in abattoirs every year and bullfighters don’t torture animals to death, instead claiming they’re artists who have learned to kill efficiently.
Finally, those arguing for bullfighting insist bulls raised for the ring enjoy longer lifespans and more luxurious living arrangements than animals raised for slaughter.
Despite these arguments, the sport remains controversial and has been banned in a number of countries.
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