Every year, people from around the world travel to Pamplona, Spain, because they have the time and money to run with the bulls. But before these tourists even board their flights to head back home, the bulls they ran with are dead. What most revelers don't realize is that the bull runs are simply a prelude to the daily bullfights in which, one-by-one, bulls are stabbed to death in the city's bullfighting arena.
I was an infantry soldier in the U.S. Army. I grew up eating meat and never gave animal rights a second thought. But one day, while I was still serving, I attended a friend's wedding. Outside the host's home, there was a friendly stray cat who, I learned, the host intended to shoot. I sneaked the cat into the barracks until I could get him safely to my parents' house.
Something had clicked inside me. If I cared so much about this cat, I asked myself, what about other animals in trouble? Every pattern that I had clung to began to fall away. I've been vegan for almost two years, and my only regret is that I didn't make the switch sooner.
This evolution in my thinking is why I will be attending the Running of the Bulls _ not to run with them but for them.
The media spin this event as a contest of courage, but the deck is stacked against the bulls before they even step foot on Pamplona's cobblestone streets. The bulls are kept in corrals and released when rockets are let off, frightening and disorienting them. During the run, they must flee through streets filled with screaming crowds of drunken revelers who often prod them with sticks and rolled up newspapers. They careen into each other and often slip, fall and smash into buildings.
Every night, each bull _ already exhausted and confused by the frenzy of the run _ is led into the bullfighting arena. The torture begins when men on horses repeatedly stab him with brightly colored darts called banderillas, until he is dizzy, weakened from blood loss and enduring agonizing pain. The matador (Spanish for "killer") comes in only when the bull is already near death. His ears and tail may be cut off as sadistic "trophies" before his body is dragged from the arena.
People around the world, including many Spaniards, are condemning this blood sport. But those who travel to Pamplona to participate in the Running of the Bulls help perpetuate the carnage.
We have a responsibility not to be cruel to the most vulnerable members of society. We need to move beyond defending abuse on the grounds of tradition. Bullfighting is one of the most reprehensible acts committed against animals in Europe today. How can there be sport when one party can never win or even choose to participate? Bullfighting needs to be consigned to the history books, and my mission is to make this a reality.
