The San Fermin Festival, known better around the world as the Pamplona bull run, in northern Spain ended this year with several injuries and one death. The tragedy got many people, including the media, rethinking why revelers want to take a chance of being gored to death by enormous bulls and why the tradition should carry on.

First, ABC News gives us perspective from two American brothers who came really close to death in the running two summers ago. A bull’s left horn flipped one brother up and stabbed another at the same time, leaving them in the hospital for a week.

“I don’t know why people wouldn’t do it. For those people who are older, who have families I understand that there are certain responsibilities. But then ask yourself, ‘when I was 25… would I have gone to that?’ And most people can’t give me a good answer why they wouldn’t. ”

The Irish Times gives us a different view from an Irish man who was pinned down by a bull and suffered extensive bruising during the run this year. This is what he has to say…

“The reality of actually seeing three men brutally gored by those bulls made me realise I did not want to put my family and friends through anything like that again. I am very aware that I was very lucky.”


Looking at the tragedy that occurred to a 27-year-old Spaniard this year, Latino lifestyle website Guanabee tells us why the run can’t be any safer.

“... this death is a reminder that the running of the bulls is an incredibly dangerous activity, but then again, that’s the point. If you baby proof any activity either for fear of death, injury, or because tourists can’t run, it takes away the thrill.”

A columnist from Canada’s The Delhi News-Record thinks differently about the thrill part and questions the logic of the Spanish tradition.

“…It may have been only the second death in six years, but it’s still two deaths too many.… for a seemingly civilized country to allow its common folk to risk death for the entertainment of others is not only illogical, it’s downright insane.”

Finally, taking part in the run himself 20 years ago, Mitch Albom, a famous author and columnist of the Detroit Free Press, explains why he wants to see the event continue.

“…Pamplona is not Las Vegas and bull running is not the Super Bowl. It remains a rare old tradition in a small, foreign city that hasn’t been co-opted by Visa or Budweiser, doesn't carry a corporate name, has no sponsors or drug tests and offers no prize other than to say you did it.”

Whether for adrenaline rush or the moment-of-a-life-time, do you think it’s worth risking your life in the bull run after all?

Entertainment News

Bull Tales

July 17, 2009
(2:38)
This year's bull running event in Pamplona, Spain, saw one man gored to death and others injured. The media are looking at the tradition that has people from around the world risking their lives.
   
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