Distressing footage shows a bull thrashing in terror after it was set on fire by a mob of locals at a Spanish festival.

The cruel tradition sees men strap huge horns made of wood coated in tar to the poor animal’s head.

The attachments are then set on fire, causing the terrified animals to smash into walls in an attempt to free themselves from the flames.

Toro de Fuego — meaning “bull of fire” — has been a day of festivities in Spain for centuries.

More than 3,000 bulls are torched across the country each year, activists say.

The latest shocking footage of the cruel tradition was filmed in the ancient town of Medinaceli.

Despite phones being banned by organizers, animal rights group Anima Naturalis managed to expose the brutal event.

In the footage, the bull, thought to be just a few years old, whips its head in a blind panic in front of a cheering crowd.

Lethal bullfights have declined by 60 percent in the last 10 years due to falling attendance, according to an online campaign aiming to get Pope Francis to condemn the festival.

They stress that in that time, other events that involve extreme cruelty to animals have been banned due to protests.

Steven Eke, one of the people behind the Change.org protest, said: “In the last 10 years, a powerful animal rights movement has emerged, making the best use it can of social media.

“The festivals in which goats were hanged or thrown from bell towers; bulls were turned into pincushions by having metal darts inserted all over their bodies through blowpipes; and in which the heads were ripped off live birds hanging from ropes, have been banned over the past 15 years.

“Unfortunately, the bullfights, calf mutilations, fire bulls, bull drownings and donkey crushing continue, and they all involve extreme, deliberate cruelty for entertainment.”

PETA director Elisa Allen said the “agony the bulls must suffer is almost unimaginable.”

Speaking to Metro, she said: “The fiery balls can burn for hours and they burn the bulls’ horns, eyes and other parts of their bodies and cause tremendous stress.

“It’s totally understandable that compassionate people would want to do anything they can to ease the bulls’ suffering.

“And history will not look back kindly on the people who support and enforce this sadistic and archaic event, of which the vast majority of Spanish people are ashamed.”