Two people gored in Pamplona Bull Run after two days of revelry

Spain's annual Pamplona Bull Run, known locally as the San Fermin Fiesta, is now in full swing and two revellers have already been gored by raging bulls.

An injury to the thorax has left one man in a critical condition, while another received a nasty leg wound. Four other revellers sustained minor injuries and some have blamed tourists for the incidents. One of the injured was an 18-year-old Australian tourist. Further injuries are likely to occur over the next few days of the Pamplona Bull Run.

During last year's Pamplona Bull Run, a 27-year-old man died after he was gored in the neck by a bull. His death was the first for nearly 15 years of the San Fermin Fiesta.

The San Fermin Fiesta kicked off in Pamplona's main square on 6 July, where thousands gathered in celebration, dousing one another with wine. Though tourists still flock to the event, numbers are down this year, and visitors are spending less money in Pamplona than they were two years ago. Vuvuzela's, which have grown in popularity since the start of the World Cup in South Africa, have been banned from the festival.

Each morning, hundreds of people literally run for their lives as six bulls chase them down the narrow streets of Pamplona, and there's nowhere to hide. Onlookers cheer the runners on from the surrounding balconies and side streets. The morning bull runs end in fights in the town's bullring.

The Pamplona Bull Run is a nine day festival, which has seen 19 deaths in the last hundred years. Every year participants receive injuries when they are trampled or speared by bull horns, and some are flung into the air by the angry beasts.

The San Fermin Fiesta is overshadowed by the wave of bullfighting bans that is sweeping through Spain. On Sunday, when the festival will draw to a close, a regional bullfighting ban could be put in force in another part of Spain. Bullfighting remains one of the most widely recognised acts of animal cruelty amongst animal rights campaigners.

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