In 2016, Spain saw a great victory against animal cruelty when the “Toro de la Vega” bull festival, held in Tordesillas, was finally banned after a bull had been speared to death. Instead of the old cruel event, the town started to “celebrate” an alternative. “Toro de la Peña,” during which the bull is not killed in public. But just because there is no public killing does not mean that the bull leaves the celebrations unscathed.


During the “Toro de la Peña” event, the animal is as abused and persecuted as during the old festivities and, finally, sacrificed at the end of the event, a Care2 petition points out. The only difference is, this time there is no camera to record it.

A number of animal rights organizations and rescues, among them the Hogar Provegan Sanctuary in Tarragona, have offered to the organizers of the event alternatives when it comes to the bull’s fate. They proposed to take the animal to a sanctuary once the celebrations are over. However, requests for a humane ending have not been heard this year. The exploited animal has been killed again, which makes it even more pressing to do everything to prevent this from happening next year as well.

Before the ban, the “Toro de la Vega” festival was subject to an abhorrent display of animal cruelty and, consequently, the center of protests by animal rights activists. The very event consists of a bull chase, where hundreds of lancers run through the streets of the town and into an open field. The aim of this unbelievable “entertainment” is, simply, to succeed in killing the animal. The current prohibition of the slaughter is questioned and rejected by many within the town – despite the obvious cruelty of the practice and the negative picture the event paints for the area and the entire country.

Click here to sign the petition for the Mayor of Tordesillas to stop the killing of bulls in the Tordesillas festival and publicly commit to delivering the bull used in the event next year to an animal shelter!




Image source: caropat/Pixabay

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