At least two people were gored in the penultimate running of the bulls in Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, the Spanish Red Cross said.
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It was like a scene straight from Munro Leaf children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand”, about a bull that prefers smelling flowers to bullfights. The last time Conde de la Maza bulls ran in Pamplona was in 1981.
The running of the bulls is monitored by experts who control the route and try to prevent accidents, but, inevitably, runners fall, suffer cuts and bruises, and are even gored by the animals. He reportedly was gored twice by the bull, sustaining injuries to the back of his knee and near his anus.
A runner was treated for an arm injury at the Navarre Hospital Complex, emergency services officials said.
A “recortador” jumps over a bull during a competition at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain, Saturday, July 11, 2015.
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Unlike the gentle, flower-sniffing Ferdinand, Curioso – which means curious in English – nearly certainly won’t get a chance to retire. Monday’s dash lasted 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Past year just over 17,000 people took part in the festival’s eight daily bull runs. The weekend runs are traditionally the most popular and well-attended. It became world-famous after Ernest Hemingway featured it in his 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”.
