The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain

The running of the bulls is a deadly spectacle. © AP Photo/EFE, Jesus Diges

Blame it on Ernest Hemingway. His novel, The Sun Also Rises, drew attention to an annual event that was merely a glorified review of livestock until this tale was published in 1926.

Since then, Hemingway's story of Lost Generation ex-pats seeking distraction in post-World War I Europe has elevated Pamplona, Spain's Running of the Bulls to a sort of mythic status—a romanticized brush with stampeding bulls that's supposed to symbolize our desire to stare death in the face. Yet there's nothing romantic about this brutal event that each year guarantees death to only one species: the bulls. Here's our top ten list of reasons why it's time to put the brakes on the Running of the Bulls.

10. Pamplona's Fiesta de San Fermin runs annually from July 7 to July 14. Each morning, the festival hosts a Running of the Bulls over a half-mile stretch of cobblestone streets. Organizers select six bulls from Spain's top breeding ranches for the "honor" of, literally, racing toward their deaths that afternoon. By the time the festival finally closes, 48 bulls will have died for the amusement of tourists and adrenaline junkies.

9. The bulls are reportedly poked with electric prods and sharp instruments prior to releasing them on the streets of Pamplona. The technique apparently instigates the bulls to stampede.

8. Bulls have hooves, which give the animal some traction. But no hoof can provide traction on Pamplona's slick, cobblestone streets. Bulls regularly topple during the run, particularly at the sharper turns in the course. Not only do toppled bulls hurt people, but they hurt themselves. The animals have been known to break horns and legs during the race.

7. People drink a lot during the Fiesta de San Fermin. It's part of the ritual. Some stay up all night to watch the Running of the Bulls at 8 a.m. They are not, to put it mildly, in their best state of mind. Spectators have been known to harass the bulls or gouge them with sticks.

6. Because of the race's popularity with tourists from all over the world, the Running of the Bulls is a crowded affair. The congested course makes the race more dangerous not only for humans, but also for bulls. The animals can trip over fallen bodies as well as any human can. When bulls go down, they can get gored by other bulls, just like humans.

5. The point for humans in this annual ritual is to survive. The point for bulls—at least from the perspective of organizers—is to die. The race course literally dead ends into a bullfighting ring, where the animals will come face to face with their own death in a way that most of the human racers will never understand.

4. Once inside the bullring, the odds are stacked against the animal. Published reports indicate that the bullfighting industry uses a variety of techniques to weaken or disorient the animal, from drugging the bull to smearing petroleum jelly on his eyes. Some bulls even have their neck muscles cut so that they cannot raise their heads, and therefore their horns, all the way up.

3. Death is not pretty inside the bullring. A man on horseback will jab the bull with lances and puncture him with barbed sticks called banderillas. The great beast, drained of blood and energy, will then face a matador who will ritualistically tease the bull before sticking one last blade into the animal's heart. It's estimated that 40,000 bulls die in this manner every year in cities across Spain.

2. But the bulls don't always die from the last blade to the heart. Some matadors aren't skilled enough to guide the blade that precisely. In those cases where the injured bull is merely choking on his own blood, another person is brought in to finish off the animal, typically with a knife. Sometimes as many as 30 stabbings are required to kill the animal.

1. Bulls aren't the only animals killed during the Running of the Bulls. Thirteen people reportedly have been killed during the race since 1924. Many more have been gored by bulls, some seriously so. There's simply no reason for this death and bloodshed in the name of "entertainment."

Updated May 5, 2009