Costa Rican Authorities Are Urged to Deny Permission To Conduct Bull Run

On Monday the organizers of "Pamplona y Más" submitted the requirements to the Municipalidad and the Ministerio de Salud de Belén and Senasa (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria), and now await a response to the redesign of the event and its total acceptance.

The event, a running of the bulls in the style of Pamplona in Spain, was to have taken place next month, is on hold until organizers get full approval.

Marco Tulio Alfaro, manager of the Centro de Eventos Pedregal in San Antonio de Belén, said the a new date would be announced as soon as all approvals are obtained and stressed the event is a family event and without aggression or violence against the animals.

The event, in addition to the bulls, will include music, family activities, antique cars, a horse race, an event including mules, bumper cars and more than 100 stands with merchandise and food and drinks.

some of the best national bands will perform.

Humane Society International (HSI) denounced the proposed “Pamplona y Más”. This kind of copycat spectacle, intended to emulate the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain, serves only to torment bulls, says the HSI website.

The proposed festival “Pamplona y Más,” sponsored by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Costa Rica, centres around the release of several bulls to run through enclosed spaces. HSI urged the Costa Rican government to take a strong stance against allowing the import of such a cruel event. Costa Rica has already shown that it doesn’t welcome bloody spectacles by banning cockfighting and dogfighting.

The tormenting of animals for amusement can never be acceptable,” said Cynthia Dent, director of HSI/Latin America. “We encourage the Costa Rican authorities to refuse authorization for this event, and we strongly urge the Spanish government and representatives to start listening to the call of compassionate activists from around the world and stop their efforts to perpetuate these events, both in Spain and abroad.”

The encierro or “bull run” of the festival of San Fermín is a yearly activity that takes place in July, during which hundreds of people run in front of bulls through a half mile stretch of narrow streets. This event not only causes great distress and fear to the bulls, but it usually results in hundreds of people being injured and sometimes even the death of some unlucky bystander.

While bullfighting and related bull fiestas are still held in countries such as Spain, France, Portugal, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, worldwide audiences have increasingly expressed their opposition to bullfighting and bull fiestas in general in recent years. HSI condemns both bullfighting and all other bull fiesta events, which cause unconscionable stress and panic to bulls.