A raging bull has trampled and gored two people on Tuesday, September 17, in a Spanish festival in Tordesillas. The festival calls for the spear-wielding, horseback riding residents to engage a bull in a chase, and slaughter it.
The bull charged at a photographer Pedro Armestre, 41, injuring his right thigh, as he was reportedly trying to hide behind a tree. Media statements have indicated that he is alive, conscious and has been sent to the hospital to have surgery. Another person, though unnamed, was reported to have been gored by the bull as well, and has been sent to the hospital to be treated.
The hulking bull continued to injure 12 more people before finally being surrounded in a field and speared to death by the townspeople.
The annual festival has been a tradition for centuries in Tordesillas, which has been savagely criticized by animal rights activists, who call it a cowardly, sadistic tradition.
There are several bull-centric festivals in Spain and Portugal, the more famous of which being Bullfighting and Pamplona's Running of the Bulls festival. Several deaths have been reported, mainly that of the bulls, and dozens of people dying of injuries sustained by trampling or goring.
Horrific goring injuries are suffered by matadors in the bullring, the most infamous of which was the recent (2011) goring of matador Juan Jose Padilla, who was gored right in the head, causing the loss of an eye, the use of an ear, as well as facial mutilation and paralysis. He came back to bullfighting less than half a year later, with an eye patch and a new name: The Pirate.
Despite being heavily criticized in the savagery of killings, the more traditionalist Spaniards claim that they revere the bull, saying that it is respected for its courage, and for being a worthy and honorable adversary.
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