Bull festivals are a form of cruelty and violence
At popular festivals in towns across Spain, bulls are immobilised, pulled with ropes, attacked, forced to run, thrown into the sea, and have torches lit on their horns. The animals suffer falls, blows, intense pain, and sometimes death.
The cruelest form of festivity involves attaching balls soaked in a flammable substance to their horns and setting them alight to watch the animals run in desperation.
Entertainment at the expense of bulls puts their lives at risk
Deaths from brutal blows, stress-induced heart attacks, burns to the eyes, anguish and fear of fire. In addition to physical and psychological injuries, a large number of these animals are sent directly to the slaughterhouse that same night. These are the consequences of this cruel festivity:
Let's put an end to cruel festivities!
We are carrying out the largest and most in-depth investigation into the more than 18,000 cruel animal festivals held year after year in Spain, which are unfortunately on the rise. We want to expose the abuse hidden within thousands of towns' celebrations and traditions.
The bullfighting industry sees its future threatened as support dwindles, and is increasingly turning to popular festivals as a growing business. We want to put a definitive end to cruel festivities. Will you help us?
How much public money is given to cruel traditions?
We present our research that shows for the first time the total number of towns that celebrate cruel festivals with bulls, how much public money is given to the organization of these events and the description of all the bullfighting modalities to which tens of thousands of animals are subjected each year.
A bull is called a roped bull to the modality of popular bullfighting celebration consisting of the release in a locality of a cow with one or more ropes tied to its head to control its movements and attacks. The rope bull is probably the most atavistic spectacle and also the most distressing for the animal, being the one that limits its movements the most and for the longest time.
Nearly 2,500 bulls are packed with fire every year in a large number of Spanish cities, all with the approval and subsidies of town halls, councils and regional governments, despite the fact that this practice entails intense suffering for the bull, a victim of exhaustion, blows, falls, as well as disorientation, fear and anguish.
It is a modality that takes place in a square open to the sea located in the port or the beach of the town where it is held. There it is about the bull chasing the fans, who avoid their attacks by jumping into the sea and provoking the animal until it also falls into the water.
The release of bulls or running of the bulls are maintained as a custom in practically the entire territory and are common in patron saint festivities in most regions. It consists of a group of people running in front of a herd of 6 to 10 bulls, cows, steers or heifers.
It is about loose bulls in a ring, where they are persecuted, harassed and mocked by young men from the town.
27 septiembre 2026
Unas 30 personas se concentraron el domingo 27 de septiembre frente al Ayuntamiento de Valencia para exigir el fin de esta práctica, mientras la ciudad celebra un nuevo concurso federado de tiro y arrastre. Portaban carteles con los lemas "No nacieron para cargar" y "Esto no es deporte", y mostraron herraduras ensangrentadas como recordatorio del sufrimiento que denuncian.
24 agosto 2026
Hemos solicitado al Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz de la Zarza que suspenda o, al menos, prohíba la participación activa de menores en la «Exhibición de minibueyes» prevista para este jueves 27 de agosto, un recorrido de bovinos por las calles del municipio que, desde AnimaNaturalis, tememos que termine convertido en un encierro infantil. ¿Qué diferencia real hay entre una exhibición autorizada y un encierro cuando son niños y niñas quienes corren junto a los animales?
10 julio 2026
Los días 4 y 5 de julio de 2026, el equipo de investigación de AnimaNaturalis y CAS International grabó en imagen y vídeo las dos primeras sesiones de la temporada de los bous a la mar en el puerto de Dénia. ¿Cuánto puede resistir un animal acosado, agotado y empujado al agua, sesión tras sesión, durante toda una semana?
01 julio 2026
Nuestro equipo viajó hace dos semanas hasta el sur de Tarragona para documentar, un año más, los toros embolados de las fiestas de Sant Jaume d'Enveja y L'Ampolla. Las imágenes y el vídeo que hemos recogido, de difícil acceso incluso para nuestros propios cámaras, muestran de nuevo lo que la palabra "tradición" intenta esconder.
27 enero 2026
La entidad alega que el XX Congrés Nacional del Bou amb Corda tuvo lugar a mediados de septiembre en fechas sin tradición festiva reconocida y que el Ayuntamiento permitió estos actos vulnerando la Llei 34/2010. ¿Puede la administración autorizar espectáculos taurinos fuera de las festividades tradicionales? AnimaNaturalis recurrirá hasta las últimas consecuencias legales.
22 diciembre 2025
La organización exige la apertura de un expediente sancionador por vulnerar la Ley 34/2010 al organizar espectáculos con toros al margen de las festividades tradicionales reconocidas.
