Photos: Cyclist Thibaut Pinot calls for an end to bullfighting in new PETA France campaign

For immediate release:
July 17, 2024

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Nimes, France –

“End bullfighting”—this is the message of French cyclist Thibaut Pinot in a brand-new campaign for PETA France, which will be shown in Nîmes on a promotional bike to mark stage 16 of the Tour de France. The ad features an image of Pinot on a bicycle, raising his arms in victory, with the text: “This is sportwith that of a bull – whose horns reflect the position of the cyclist’s arms – in an arena during a bullfight with the message, “This is tortureto remind everyone that bullfighting, unlike the impressive Tour de France, has nothing to do with sportsmanship or bravery.

Photos are available via PETA France here And here.

“Bullfighting is anything but a sport. It is a macabre spectacle of torturing and killing a terrified animal,” says PETA Vice President for Europe, UK and Australia Mimi Bekhechi. “Thibaut Pinot’s campaign for PETA France highlights the difference between an impressive display of endurance and ritualized slaughter, and reminds people around the world that bullfighting has no place in modern society.”

During a bullfight, several bulls, each a sensitive individual who feels fear and pain and values ​​his life as much as we do, are tortured, one after the other. Seized by fear, torment and confusion about not knowing why he is being subjected to this torment, the bull tries to escape but cannot. Attackers on horses chase him around the arena and stab his back and neck with lances before others tyres in his back. Finally, when the bull becomes weak from blood loss, a matador attempts to finish him off by plunging a sword into his lungs or, if that fails, cutting his spinal cord with a knife.

PETA France has written a letter to the organizers of the Tour de France asking them not to allow the Tour to pass through cities where bullfights still take place, in order not to turn a blind eye to this bloody practice from another era that tarnishes France’s image on the international stage. The group points out that 75% of the French population wants these bloody spectacles banned.

PETA, whose motto reads in part that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” points out that every animal is someone and offers free empathy kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebookor Instagram.