PETA Urges Ottawa City Councillor to Run Away from the Running of the Bulls
June 8, 2007
For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2007
Contact:
Matt Rice 757-622-7382
Ottawa -- After learning that Alex Cullen, councillor for Ottawa’s Bay Ward, is planning to travel to Pamplona to participate in the Running of the Bulls, PETA sent a letter to Cullen urging him to scrap the trip. PETA had originally wanted Cullen to join PETA Europe’s Running of the Nudes, an upbeat and festive protest that takes place two days prior to the Running of the Bulls. PETA Europe’s event, which it bills as a "fun, sexy, humane alternative" to the cruel Running of the Bulls and the bullfights that follow, has doubled in size every year since its inception and now attracts more than 1,000 runners from around the world. But Cullen refused, calling the nude run "too political."
Bulls forced to participate in the Running of the Bulls are terrorized with electric prods and sharp sticks prior to the run. Out of fear, the animals stampede down a route that leads to the bullring, where they are tortured and slaughtered in bullfights every day during the week-long festival.
"It’s baffling that Mr. Cullen is reluctant to be associated with an event that defends animals but apparently has no qualms about chasing terrified bulls to their deaths," says PETA Assistant Campaigns Director Megan Hartman. "If he’s worried about being associated with anything too controversial or ‘political,’ Mr. Cullen should stick to running for office and leave bulls out of it."
Bullfighting, which is illegal in Canada and the U.S., is losing its appeal in Spain. After the Barcelona City Council declared Barcelona an anti-bullfighting city in 2004 in an effort to eventually ban this primitive blood sport, 38 other Spanish municipalities, including Torello, Calldetenes, and Olot, followed suit. According to a 2006 Gallup survey, 72 percent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights, up from 31 percent in the ’90s.
For more information and to view video footage of last year’s Running of the Nudes, please visit RunningOfTheNudes.com.
PETA’s letter to Alex Cullen follows.
June 8, 2007
The Right Honourable Alex Cullen
110 Laurier Ave. W.
Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
Canada
Dear Councillor Cullen:
We hear that you have changed your plans so that you can participate in one of Spain’s cruellest spectacles, the Running of the Bulls. You say that you did not want to be "political" by being part of the respectful, peace-loving crowd at PETA Europe’s Running of the Nudes, an entertaining and humane alternative to the cruel Running of the Bulls. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more political than associating with a bull run that culminates in the animals’ being slaughtered in a violent, barbaric fashion that violates cruelty-to-animals laws in every Canadian province and U.S. state.
You may not know that every day during Pamplona’s week-long Festival of San Fermin, bulls are whipped and panicked into stampeding down streets that are crowded with masses of inebriated people, many of whom are brandishing sticks. The bulls are terrified and confused and often slip, breaking their horns and injuring their legs. Once they are exhausted, they are tortured and killed in front of a screaming, jeering crowd. Please consider the fact that there’s nothing about this bloody spectacle that is amusing or appropriate for a family holiday.
It doesn’t take much courage to condemn cruelty to animals. With all due respect, only drunken students and mindless cowards run with the bulls in Pamplona these days.
May we please hear from you that you will do the right thing and not endorse cruelty to animals as a form of "entertainment"? I can be reached at 757-622-7382 to discuss this matter further.
Respectfully yours,
Megan Hartman, Assistant Director
International Grassroots Campaigns
