July 16, 2022 6.00 am This story is over 20 months old

Lincoln man joins PETA protest against “cruel, archaic” bull running festival

They join Spanish animal protection group AnimaNaturalis
Christian Keith (right) has dressed up as a dinosaur to join a PETA protest against an annual bull chasing event in Spain, in which dozens of the animals are chased through the streets. | Photo: PETA
By Local Democracy Reporter

A Lincoln man has dressed up as a dinosaur and joined protestors calling for the end of a “prehistoric” festival event in Spain which sees dozens of bulls chased through streets before being killed each year.

The annual event, called the Festival of San Fermin’s Running of the Bulls, sees 42 bulls chased through the streets of Pamplona, Spain to the bullring, where they are eventually killed.

It has been protested by dozens of PETA supporters as well as Spanish animal protection group AnimaNaturalis, who are calling for a reimagining of the festival to promote non-violent activities instead of the Running of the Bulls.

Among the protesters is 31-year-old Christian Keith from Lincoln, who described it as a “cruel, archaic event” that needs to stop, armed with a sign that reads Bullfighting is Prehistoric – all while dressed in a dinosaur costume.

Christian said: “It’s 2022, not the Mesozoic Era, and today we understand that all animals can suffer and feel pain. This cruel, archaic event should go the way of the dinosaurs, which is why I ran through the streets calling on Pamplona’s mayor to take action and relegate this bloodbath to the history books, where it belongs.”

So far, more than 125 Spanish towns and cities have rejected the butchering of bulls for entertainment, with bullfighting recording a 42% decrease in Spain since 2019.

However, at festivals like San Fermin, bulls are still subjected to fear and risk of death – despite PETA’s near 300,000 euro offer to Pamplona’s mayor to cancel the event, an offer which still stands.