I'm laying bare the brutality of Spain's bullfights

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 11:20

LYING virtually naked with bloodied wooden daggers pinned to your back wouldn't be the first choice of activity for most tourists visiting sunny Spain.

But brave Joanne Simm will be enduring the pain and embarrassment when she visits Pamplona to campaign against the "barbaric" sport of bullfighting.

The 24-year-old from Holyrood Road is campaigning against the way animals are treated during the San Fermin Festival, and tomorrow will charge into the city with 100 other activists to bare her skin.

The annual Running of the Bulls takes place on Tuesday and will see several of the creatures chasing members of the public through the streets of the city before being battled in the bullring.

Joanne said: "I'll do anything I can to help stop this barbaric and mindless 'game'. If it means lying bloodied in some nipple tassles and a pair of underwear, so be it."

Joanne, an Open University environmental student, said she was hoping her stand would encourage Pamplona to follow other Spanish cities and take an anti-bullfighting stance.

She said: "Contrary to popular belief many places in the country, such as Barcelona and Torello, don't support the horrific activity. It is mainly tourists who keep the trade going, so we are calling on visitors to boycott this."

More than 100 people will travel to Spain for the event, including people from Germany, America, Australia and the Ukraine.

Joanne, who works part-time as a campaigner for Advocates for Animals, is the only Scottish representative of charity PETA attending the protest.

She said: "We want to shock people into thinking with this stand. We'll simulate how a bull looks when it is tormented and tortured in the ring by wearing bloody banderillas on our backs.

"It really is disgusting how the bulls are treated. Electric prods are often used to rile and disorientate the animals. Jelly is rubbed into their eyes to blind them and they are often sedated with tranquilisers. It is not a fair fight."

Tomorrow's protest is not Joanne's first in the name of bulls. Four years ago she travelled to Spain with PETA to campaign against bullfighting by running nude down the street with spears in her back.

She said: "Unfortunately we need to go back and drum in the message. It was very inspiring to hear the Spanish cheer us on.

"A survey conducted by Gallup a couple of years ago showed that 72 per cent of Spaniards had no interest in bullfighting, compared to 54 per cent in the 1980s."

Joanne, a vegan who never wears animal materials, is a regular on the campaign scene.

In the past she has taken part in anti-seal shooting and anti-hunting demonstrations.

She said: "Tormenting and butchering animals for entertainment is straight out of the Dark Ages."