In an extraordinary act of bravery, an animal rights activist jumped into the Malagueta bullfighting ring to comfort a dying bull in Malaga, Spain, yesterday. For a few moments, Virginia Ruiz, 38, was able to lay her body over the bull and shield him before arena officials and fans violently hauled her away. “I could hear him crying in pain and I jumped down, walked across the ring to where he lay dying,” Ms. Ruiz explained to me via Skype this morning. “He looked at me and I believe he felt my energy. I wanted to give him love before he left this earth,” she said.
As she was pulled off the bull, the crowd of bullfighting fans jeered, yelling “fuera!” (get out) in unison. “They called me names,” said Ruiz, “they kicked me, they spit on me, they told me to go back to the kitchen and they called me a whore.”
The bull was stabbed to death.