Peta continues its prosecution of mistreatment of animals and especially those events which have bullrunnings anywhere in the world and they are achieving both a certain success and a growing protagonism. According to information from the Courthouse News, this time Peta has filed a suit before the Federal Court of California, in The United States, against the organizers of Great Bull Run and the bull-ranch which provides the bulls for the bullrunnings organized by this private concern. The main argument put forward by Peta is that this event is an attack on the Law of Unfair Competition in California where the “bloodless bullfights are prohibited and moreover they infringe laws 597b and 597m of the State Penal Code”. The suit is being pursued by lawyer Cory Allen Evans from the Evans & Page law firm. On this coming 26th of July, 2014, The Great Bull Run show will arrive to California and this case will have to be resolved before then. The file suit comes to some 12 pages in which some comparisons are made with other events to emphasize the dangers inherent in the event, among these a reference to the Sanfermin Running of the Bulls in Pamplona “where there have been fifteen fatalities recorded over the 103 years(sic) of its history in a similar type of event.”
In spite of this move by Peta, from the web page of the event it is still possible to book tickets online and no mention is made of any possible problems. In fact, all the cheaper tickets for the event are already sold out. The organizer, Rob Dickens, has made a public reply to the Courthouse News by stating that they do not mistreat the animals in any way nor do they use whips to stimulate the Bulls and he states that horses are used by professional handlers simply to ensure that the bulls don’t turn back on the course. He points out that the breeding of animals and their management under professional hands is not prohibited in The USA.
Peta also alleges that the animals not only suffer in the bullrunning itself but also in their being transported, as they must travel at average distances of no less than 1.500 kilometers (in the case of the Californian run– the distance from Kentucky- is some 3.700 kilometers). Peta also insists that this suffering caused to the animals as well as the actual running of the Bulls on the day of the event brings in an income of some 147.000 dollars in profits for the organizers of the event, without counting the money made from food and drink sales on the day. It should be remembered that these private runnings of the bulls are held in private land and that the participating runners must sign a contract in which they promise to accept the conditions established by the organization.
