The authorities in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia are calling for festival goers not to lose respect for bulls after seven people were killed by the animals during this year s Bous al Carrer bull-running fiestas.
More than 300 injuries have been suffered in the past two months due to the summer festivities that are held in towns and villages across Valencia.
The death toll is now equal to that of 2015, when the high number of fatalities prompted the Valencian government to tighten the legislation governing the fiestas. People under 16 are not allowed to participate, as well as those who are physically or psychologically unfit, or drunk or on drugs.
An emergency meeting of the Bous al Carrer advisory committee was held on Monday to review the current situation of the festivities and listen to those involved in order to come up with preventive campaigns and more training for clubs and organisers, Jos Mar a ngel, Valencia's secretary for safety and emergencies, said: We can't lose respect for the bulls because these festivals carry a high risk. He said that the existing rules that are frequently reviewed and updated to make them some of the most restrictive in all of Spain needed to be followed, because they were not like going to an outdoor dance or a concert in the village square.
He said it is important that immediately measures are taken and the director of festivities or a bull expert is informed whenever a situation that could constitute a breach is detected. If an event has to be stopped or suspended because that is what the circumstances demand, then that is what will happen until things get back to normal. At the beginning of July, the mayor of the Valencian town of Pu ol, where a 12 year-old boy was shot this year warned of the high Bous de Carrer accident rate in the area and called for festivalgoers to behave prudently.
Paz Carceller said that those taking part in the Bous de Carrer should act responsibly. If you're going into a bull enclosure, do it without alcohol or drugs for everyone's sake. The Spanish animal rights party Pacma said nothing short of a ban on bull festivals would end the suffering of humans and animals. Any measure taken that isn't the prohibition of all bull festivals will be useless, it said in a statement. These events are based on extreme cruelty and violence and are an authentic torture for animals and a huge danger to all people. This is about archaic traditions that foment violence and poison society. Six people were killed in the past month, none of them fatally injured at Pamplona's annual bull-running festival last month.