Daredevils dressed in white and red are chased by angry bulls down the streets of Pamplona in Spain from July 6-14, when the Running of the Bulls at the San Fermin festival takes place – an annual event that outrages animal lovers across the globe every year.
When 42-year-old Nana Bjørnlund, a Danish freelance translator living in Spain, travels to Pamplona next week, she won't show up in as much as a red neckerchief. She is going to protest against the run and bullfights that follow by posing naked in the streets with her body painted to resemble a bull.
"Tormenting and butchering animals can never be justified as entertainment," she said.
"I'll gladly bare my skin if it will expose the cruelty of the Running of the Bulls and bullfighting."
A demonstration will be held on 5 July, one day before the start of the Running of the Bulls. The protest is being organised by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in the UK and the Spanish group AnimaNaturalis.
Bulls end up in the ring
According to PETA, most people are unaware that the bulls that meet their end in Pamplona's bullring during the festival of San Fermín are the same ones who earlier in the day chased the runners down the town's narrow cobblestone streets.
"Each year, approximately 10,000 bulls die in bullfights, an inaccurate term for events in which there is very little competition between a nimble, sword-wielding matador (Spanish for 'killer') and a confused, maimed, psychologically tormented, and physically debilitated animal," the organisation writes on its website.
An Ipsos MORI survey from 2013 found that only 29 percent in Spain support bullfighting and that 76 percent oppose use of public funds to support the bullfighting industry, yet the century-old tradition continues.
