One dead and several injured in bull hunt in Spain

At one of the most traditional bull runs in Spain, a fighting bull killed a spectator and injured four other people, some seriously. The accident occurred at the town festival in Pantoja, around 50 kilometers south of Madrid, when a bull broke through the barriers of the running track and took several spectators on its horns, as reported by the media and the emergency services of the Castile-La Mancha region.

An 80-year-old man died of his injuries. Among the injured was a girl of about four years old, but her life was not in danger, it was said. Police officers shot the animal. The authorities said they had launched an investigation.

Bullfighting often criticized

Accidents, including fatal ones, are not uncommon at the summer bull runs, which have been a part of almost all Spanish festivals for many centuries. However, it is usually only the so-called runners who are affected, i.e. mainly the young men who drive the bulls through the closed, often very narrow streets of the old towns into the arena for the so-called corridas in the morning.

The most famous bull run takes place every year at the beginning of July during the Sanfermín festival in Pamplona in the north of the country. During the tests of courage, the runners try to run as close as possible to or in front of the fighting bulls, which often weigh up to 600 kilograms, and to touch them without being caught by them.

Animal rights activists often describe the traditional spectacle as animal torture. Although protests are increasing from year to year, these events are not really seriously questioned in most regions of Spain. The hustle and bustle is often good business for the cities. In Pamplona, ​​for example, the wild spectacle with numerous side events attracts more than a million spectators to the city every year.