Elen Rivas - © Karl Grant/PETA

Elen Rivas - © Karl Grant/PETA

British tourists not to be fooled by the industry's propaganda. There is absolutely nothing romantic about torturing and killing animals for entertainment

A new ad from animal rights group PETA – which features a nude picture of Spanish-born celebrity Elen Rivas  "bleeding" from the banderillas stuck in her back next to the words "The Naked Truth: Bullfighting Is Cruel" – has been deemed too racy to run in Traveller, easyJet's in-flight magazine.

PETA had hoped to reach British tourists with its message about boycotting bullfighting when they visit Spain the top European summer holiday destination for Britons, but the magazine's publishers have ruled that although they sympathise with the cause, they cannot run the artwork because of the graphic nature of the images and the nudity involved.
 
"My ad might be graphic, but it's nothing compared to the bloody, violent reality of bullfights", says Rivas.

"Most Spaniards – including those in my hometown of Barcelona, where bullfighting was recently banned – are opposed to the barbaric blood sport, and PETA and I are urging British tourists not to be fooled by the industry's propaganda. There is absolutely nothing romantic about torturing and killing animals for entertainment."
 
In a typical bullfight, men on blindfolded horses drive lances into the bull's back and neck, impairing the animal's ability to lift his head. Others plunge banderillas – sticks with harpoon points – into the bull's back.

Finally, after the animal has become weakened from blood loss, the matador appears and attempts to kill the bull but often only succeeds in further maiming the animal.
 
Rivas joins former Miss Panama Patricia De León and Latin music icon Charo in teaming up with PETA and its overseas affiliates to fight bullfighting.


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