Madam, - Year after year, we are presented with the same images from Pamplona. The same drunken morons are shown goading the bulls and trying to leap out of the way at the last moment.
These thoughtless thrill-seekers are portrayed perennially as a brave lot who are somehow worthy of our respect and admiration.
Very little emphasis is placed on the suffering of the bulls. No mention is made of how electric shock prods and sharpened sticks are used to frighten them into a stampede.
When we see these magnificent creatures slipping and sliding along Pamplona's streets, they are invariably sustaining painful bruises, cuts and, in some cases, broken bones.
This is bad enough but what many people don't know is that the bulls are actually being chased to their deaths. At the end of the run is a bullring where, later that evening, they will be tortured and speared to death. Their fate is that of the other 40,000 bulls killed annually in Spanish bullfights.
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has this week appealed to Pamplona mayor, Yolanda Barcina Angulo, to show compassion and end the brutal bull run. We are also calling on all Irish holidaymakers in Spain to boycott the bullrings and avoid purchasing any related souvenirs. - Yours, etc.,
PHILIP KIERNAN, Irish Council Against Blood Sports, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.