Man gets gored to death at annual Spanish bull running festival

A man has been gored to death at one of Spain's annual bull running festivals.

There are hundreds of yearly events in the country that sees thrill seekers gather to run down narrow streets while angry bulls charge behind them.

One of the most famous is in Pamplona and is called the Running of the Bulls.

However, this fatal incident happened in the town of Pobla de Farnals in the Valencia region.

A 61-year-old man was taking part in the event and he was gored in the side by a bull.

He was taken to hospital to undergo surgery, however he sadly died.

The victim's friend, a 63-year-old man, was also gored in the legs and was transported to hospital for treatment.

The BBC says he is now in a stable condition.

AnimaNaturalis and CAS International discovered there are roughly more than 1,820 bull running events that occur throughout Spain every year.

Marcus Valance/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Animal rights and welfare groups have been calling on the country to restrict these festivals over fears they are harmful to the bulls.

PETA said the 'frantic' animals 'often fall or crash headfirst into walls while running at full speed', which can cause them to break bones or even die.

They launched a huge protest at the 2022 Running of the Bulls in Pamplona to beg Spain to reconsider the long-running traditional event.

Chelsea Monroe, PETA senior digital campaign officer, said: “Bullfighting is the long ritualized execution of bulls and many tourists who come to the bull-runs don’t actually realize that the same bulls they’re running down a couple of streets with are later killed in the bullring that day.

“They’re stabbed over and over again for 20 minutes until they’re dead. We want the tourists to know that their money is supporting this really cruel industry.”

Jana Uritz from AnimalNaturalis added: "The debate over the future of bullfighting in Spain has never been so alive and the authorities must take a clear stance.

"We demand the necessary courage from them to say whether they favor animal torture or, on the contrary, are ready to prohibit such barbarities.”

However, it's tough to deny the huge economic boost these events create.

Pamplona’s population of 200,000 explodes to around one million during the nine-day festival, which brings in a lot of money and can create a load of jobs.