Warning: Graphic and Distressing Content
Animal rights organisation PETA has released a shocking video of a matador stabbing a bull in the head in order to highlight the brutality of bullfighting.
The footage was taken from an event last September in Bilbao, northern Spain, presumably after the matador had finished taunting the animal around the bullring.
The hard-hitting video shows the brightly-dressed bullfighter holding the animal by one of its horns and jamming a knife repeatedly into its head as the bull thrashes about in the dirt.
Warning: Graphic and Distressing Content:
Alongside the video, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wrote on Twitter:
NOTHING about this is entertaining. RETWEET if you know bullfighting needs to end!
The upsetting video comes after the organisation launched a petition calling for a ban on the gruesome sport, which is still considered an ‘entertaining’ tradition in some parts of Spain.
A statement on the organisation’s website describes how thousands of bulls experience ‘slow and painful’ deaths in bullrings, as ‘men on horseback and on foot drive lances and barbed sticks into bulls’ backs before the tormented animals are stabbed with a sword or dagger.’
The activists go on to discuss the annual Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona, where ‘terrified bulls are shocked with electric prods’ as they are forced out on to the streets, where they are met by screaming, taunting crowds.
The statement continues:
The panicked animals often slip and crash into walls, resulting in broken bones and other injuries. Later, these same bulls will be barbarically killed in the bullring – a fact many tourists are unaware of.
Compassionate people understand that this violence is needless and unjustifiable, and opposition to bullfighting is growing both within Spain and around the world.
As part of the push for the ban, the activists wrote a letter to Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, asking him to ‘listen to the voices of people in Spain and across the world’ and outlaw bullfighting.
They point out over 100 towns have already banned bullfighting and cite an Ipsos MORI poll, which found over 80% of Spanish people oppose the cruel event.
In a plea to the public, the organisation add:
It’s time for the Spanish government to step up and protect animals. Please sign our petition to the Prime Minister calling for a national ban on bullfights and bull runs.
The heartbreaking video is just one example of the suffering these animals face so often. Sign the petition to stop bullfighting here.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.