STOP BARBARIC BETS - STOP THE
BLOODY BULLRING BETS!
email received: May 15, 2008
Hola / Bonjour/ Dear
Friends,
We would be very grateful if you could help with the following
important action alerts. Also, if you would like to have some of
our new Paddy Power campaign postcards, please let us know how many
and we will send
them to you. Thank you very much.
Tot ziens/Au revoir/Adeus/Adiós/Auf Wiedersehen/Bye
Philip Kiernan
Irish Council Against Blood Sports
www.banbloodsports.com
_______________________________________
Paddy
Power urged to "Stop Barbaric Bets"
_______________________________________
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has launched a new campaign
postcard aimed at convincing Paddy Power to "Stop Barbaric
Bets".
Visitors to the betting company's Spanish website are currently
being invited to bet on the number of ears hacked off the heads of
bulls that have been tortured in bullrings. Please contact us now
to receive
postcards for yourself and your friends to send in to the company's
head office.
On the "Toros" page of the site, heartless punters are given the
opportunity to guess the "Nº total de orejas cortadas en la
corrida"
("Total number of ears cut in the bullfight")
In a letter of appeal to Paddy Power, ICABS stated: "We find it
absolutely grotesque and in the poorest of taste the Paddy Power
company's acceptance of such bets. As people are placing bets on
the Paddy Power website, tortured bulls are stumbling around the
bullrings with blood spurting from their backs and spraying from
their noses and mouths. How can your company justify making money
from this disgusting animal abuse?"
Bullfighting is one of the world's worst blood sports and is cruel
from beginning to end. Each bullfight involves the slow torture to
death of six or more bulls. Horseback riders firstly weaken the
bull by stabbing its body with sharp lances. To force it to drop
its head, hooked spears are then driven into its neck
muscles.
The cruelty culminates with a stabbing through the heart with a
sword.
Ears are cut from the bulls as grisly trophies for the matadors.
The animals will have suffered enormously in the bullring and, if
they are still conscious when the ear is cut off, their agony will
be even greater.
The Paddy Power company has been made fully aware of the violent
horrors of bullfighting. A video sent to their head office shows a
bleeding and injured bull - still conscious - lying paralysed on
the ground as a
bullfighter uses a dagger to carve off one of its ears.
ACTION ALERT
Please register your disgust at Paddy Power's barbaric bets. Order
some "Stop Barbaric Bets" campaign postcards for yourself and your
friends to send in to Paddy Power's head office in Dublin. If you
run an animal
welfare group, please distribute postcards to your supporters and
ask them to urgently send them.
To order cards, please email your name and address to info
[AT] banbloodsports.com
or write to ICABS, PO Box
88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. We would be grateful if you could
include a 55c stamp with your order (for every 15 cards requested)
to cover postage costs.
ACTION ALERT
Please urgently contact the CEO of Paddy Power and demand an end to
its bullfighting bets. Ask as many of your friends as possible to
respond to this action alert and post it on your website and social
networking
pages.
Patrick Kennedy
Chief Executive
Paddy Power Plc
Airton House, Airton Road
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Email: ppower@paddypower.com; info@paddypowerplc.com
Tel: 00353 (0)1 404 5900. Fax: 00353 (0)1 404 5901.
Sample Letter
(Please compose your own personal letter if possible. If you do not
have time to do this, please send the short sample letter below. Be
assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)
Dear Mr Kennedy,
I am writing to express my absolute disgust that Paddy Power is
accepting bets on the number of ears carved off the heads of bulls
at Spanish bullfighting events.
Removed after the tortured bulls collapse in agony, the ears are
kept by the matadors as grisly trophies. Sometimes the animals are
still alive when the ears are hacked off and this can be seen in
video footage at
www.youtube.com/icabs
As bets are being placed on the Paddy Power website, bulls are
stumbling around bullrings with blood spurting from their backs and
spraying from their noses and mouths. How can your company justify
making money from this disgusting animal abuse?
Paddy Power - Stop the bloody bullring bets NOW!
Yours sincerely,
Name/Location
Campaign Video: Paddy Power Plc - Stop the bloody bullring
bets
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5we4eBEdLgQ
Video: Bullfighting Cruelty in Spain
www.dailymotion.com/video/x3nykl_bullfighting-cruelty_animals
_______________________________________
Bullfight
exhibition sponsor revealed: Luis de Grandes Pascual,
MEP
_______________________________________
Luis de Grandes
Pascual, MEP
The Irish Council Against Blood Sports
has learned that Spanish MEP, Luis de Grandes Pascual (Partido
Popular) is the individual who sponsored next month's scheduled
"Between Man and Bull" bullfighting
exhibition.
Correspondence received this week from the European Parliament
outlines that the exhibition will include photos, videos and
pictures.
Responding to an ICABS complaint, a Parliament spokesperson
stated:
"According to the relevant rules, outside organisations can apply
to use EP facilities under certain conditions. Any application must
be sponsored in writing by an MEP and approved by the responsible
member of the College of Quaestors after consideration of a
reasoned opinion from the Secretary General. Subject to capacity
constraints, each MEP can sponsor one event in each
legislature."
"In the case in question, the exhibition is sponsored by Mr Luis de
Grandes Pascual MEP and has been approved under the provisions of
the current rules," he added.
Please join us in lodging a complaint with Luis de Grandes Pascual
MEP
Email: luis.degrandespascual@europarl.europa.eu
_______________________________________
Google
thanked for removing bullfight adverts
_______________________________________
ICABS has thanked Google for removing bullfighting adverts from a
page which previews a book about anti-bullfight campaigner, Vicki
Moore. In our appeal to the company, we told of how brave Vicki was
violently
gored by a bull while documenting animal cruelty and sadly died
five years later.
"We are sure that it was not Google's intention to be insensitive
or disrespectful but the fact remains that the presence of these
links are hurtful not only to Vicki's surviving husband, Tony, but
also to the many people in Ireland, the UK and across Europe who
remember the enormous contribution Vicki made to the campaign
against bullfighting," we stated in our correspondence last
month.
In an email reply to ICABS, a Google spokesperson acknowledged "the
contradiction of showing the ads on a book search site against
animal violence".
ICABS was delighted to subsequently learn, through Tony Moore and
his partner Matilda Mench (both of whom launched the Google
campaign), that the sponsored links had been removed from the Life
on the Line page.
As Google continues to accept adverts from bullfighting-related
companies, the campaign continues. Please see below for more
details on how you can help persuade Google to stop advertising
this abhorrent activity.
ACTION ALERT
Thank Google for removing the bullfighting sponsored links from the
Life on the Line page. The links continue to appear on other Google
pages, however, so please urge the company to show compassion and
stop accepting adverts from those involved in this barbaric blood
sport.
Sample Letter
(Please compose your own personal letter if possible. If you do not
have time to do this, please send the short sample letter below. Be
assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)
Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D.
CEO, Google
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Fax: 001 650 253 0001
Email Google Ads at: adwords-support@google.com
(If emailing, please try and also post or fax a letter to Dr
Schmidt as well)
Dear Mr Schmidt,
I am writing to thank Google for removing bullfighting sponsored
links from the Google Book Search page for Life on the Line, a book
about brave anti-bullfighting campaigner, Vicki Moore.
Sadly, similar links continue to appear on other Google pages. I
ask you to please stop accepting Sponsored Link adverts from
companies involved with bullfighting, one of the world's worst
forms of animal abuse. Your
decision to disassociate Google from this appalling blood sport
would be widely welcomed by millions around the world.
Thank you. I look forward to your positive reply.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Location]
Video: Vicki Moore / Life on the Line
Tribute to Vicki Moore and her dedication to helping
animals
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgOsYkE72E
Read a preview of "Life on the Line - The heroic story of Vicki
Moore"
by Matilda Mench at:
books.google.com
Purchase the book at bluecoatpress.co.uk
or from your local book shop (ISBN-1904438571)
_______________________________________
MEP
contacts Parliament President about bullfight
exhibition
_______________________________________
Irish MEP, Kathy Sinnott, has contacted the President of the
European Parliament about an exhibition which bullfighters are
planning to hold at EU Headquarters next month. The blood sports
brigade are trying to
convince parliamentarians that slowly torturing a bull to death is
a "noble" activity that should be preserved.
In a letter to all of Ireland's MEPs, ICABS stated: "We are shocked
and horrified to learn today that there is to be a bullfighting
exhibition entitled 'Between Man and Bull', the purpose of which is
to try to persuade legislators that bullfighting is a 'noble'
activity. This is due to commence on June 4th, and is aimed at
familiarising Parliament members with the 'beauty' and 'proud
liveliness' of this 'European cultural heritage'."
"If you abhor what can only be described as the world's worst blood
sport, please strongly object to the mounting of this grotesque
exhibition, masquerading as art and tradition," we added.
Appealing to the President of the European Parliament to scrap the
exhibition, we highlighted this week how opposition to bullfighting
across Europe is at an all-time high and continually growing.
"A majority of EU citizens want bullfighting banned," we
emphasised. "We hope that you can reverse the decision to allow the
bullfighting industry into Parliament to speak favourably about
this indefensible
blood sport."
ACTION ALERT
Urge the European Parliament to close its doors to bullfighters
spreading misinformation about one of Europe's worst instances of
animal cruelty
SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please compose your own personal letter.
Otherwise, feel free to send the short sample letter below. Be
assertive, but polite, in all correspondence. Thank you.)
Hans-Gert Pöttering
President of the European Parliament
Rue Wiertz 60
PHS 11B11
B-1047 Brüssel, Belgium
Email: hans-gert.poettering@europarl.europa.eu
Dear Mr Pöttering,
I wish to register my strong objection to the "Between Man and
Bull" exhibition which is due to take place at the European
Parliament early next month. Considering the extreme animal cruelty
involved in bullfighting and the fact that millions in Spain,
France, Portugal and all across Europe want this barbarity banned,
I believe that bullfighters should not be invited into Parliament
buildings.
These heartless animal abusers describe their sport as a noble
tradition that should be preserved but you will surely agree that
there is no place in a modern Europe for the slow torture to death
of animals for entertainment. It is now time for bullfighting to be
banned and I urge you to cancel this exhibition and to work towards
ridding the EU of this, and all, blood sports.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
[Name/Location]
ACTION ALERT
Ask your MEPs to lodge a complaint against the "Between Man and
Bull" exhibition and to call for it to be cancelled. Also urge them
to support future moves in the EU to finally bring bullfighting to
an end. Contact
details for your country's MEPs can be found at
www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public.do