Things got a bit quackers in Spain yesterday when one woman took exception to an animal rights activist and decided to attack him with a live duck.
It managed to be the oddest moment at a festival in which hundreds of swimmers in the Catalan town of Roses chase ducks in the Mediterranean and attempt to bring them back to shore, which is something of an achievement in itself.
The celebration – creatively called the “duck chase” – takes place every year and sees the birds thrown into the sea before locals return them to land, for some reason.
Unsurprisingly, animal rights activists have spoken out against the event. Animal Rescue España have criticised the festival for causing the animals “stress, internal haemorrhaging, pain, fear and suffering” and they’ve launched a Change.org petition calling for the end of the celebration.
The group were present at this year’s event and caught the bizarre duck assault incident on camera in the process.
The animal rights activist filming the event shouted at the attendees:
Continue, continue. Continue to abuse, I am filming you. A little bit of empathy for the animals. They also have a life, like your children or your family.
At that point, a woman wearing a white swimsuit approached him and began to attack him with a live duck. As you do. Like, she was literally swinging a live animal at the guy. We can definitely see why he thought the event was cruel to animals now!
The petition to bring an end to the festival currently has over 13,500 signatures and, in response to the increasing public pressure the Mayor of Roses, Montse Mindan, has already proposed a referendum on the issue.
