Some Australian travellers continue to support the deadly Running of the Bulls at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, Spain, each year in July. Aussies make up a disproportionately large percentage of the foreign tourists who pack in as panicked bulls slip on cobblestone streets and are forced to run uphill for almost 900 metres while being chased and poked by jeering crowds. Unbeknownst to many run participants, the same bulls they taunt in the mornings are forced into evening bullfights, which end in a violent death for every single bull.

Warnings to Australian Travellers

In addition to the cruelty to animals, the event harms human participants. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns that taking part in the Running of the Bulls is dangerous. “Every year, people are badly injured and sometimes killed. People are also killed or badly injured jumping from fountains during the festivities in Pamplona.”

The government also warns that Medicare won’t cover participants, and travel insurance may not either.

The overwhelmed local health system in Pamplona sees between 50 and 100 attendees injured each year. During the nine-day event, the hospital holds a daily press conference where they highlight the idiotic ways revellers have harmed themselves, each other, and the town. Sixteen attendees have died from being gored, trampled or from other injuries.

The violent event is also a nightmare for women and children, as thousands of drunk men swarm the town. In 2016, five men attacked a teenager in a violent gang rape that led to locals protesting in the streets, but little has changed. The 2024 event saw the arrests of 23 men for sexual assault.

“Stop Blessing Corridas”

Saint Fermín was the first Bishop of Pamplona, but the festival in his name has become a bloody spectacle that inflicts pain and trauma on God’s creatures. PETA is calling on the Pope to end the church’s support of cruel and un-Christian bullfighting. And in a letter this week to Australian Cardinal Mykola Bychok, we have requested that he denounce the abuse of bulls carried out in honour of Catholic saints and urge Australians to steer clear of the San Fermín Festival:

In Laudato Si’, His Holiness Pope Francis wrote that “every act of cruelty towards any creature is contrary to human dignity”. The majority of Spanish people oppose bullfighting, but tourists help to keep the industry alive. We implore Your Eminence to use your influence and speak out for the animals whose cries go unheard by urging young Australians to stay away from these cruel spectacles.

PETA in Pamplona

The horrors of bullfighting can’t be explained away as “culture”. A recent survey found that 78 per cent of Spanish citizens do not support bullfighting, with younger people recognising that tradition is no excuse for cruelty. Alongside local Spanish groups, supporters from PETA entities have been converging on Pamplona each year to campaign against the callous cruelty to the bulls, who are tortured and killed.

How to Help Bulls

If you are travelling to Spain, enjoy the art, beaches, breathtaking architecture and views, castles, flamenco dances, hikes, live music, parks, plazas, nightlife, soccer games, and sunsets. Go on tours, meet locals, visit museums and markets, and try vegan pinchos, tapas, sangria, and sorbet. Just remember: Cruelty is not a part of culture worth preserving.

And please sign the petition to Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Catholic Church, urging him to end the Church’s complicity in bullfighting – a blood sport that has no place in Christian celebrations.