Bull Gores Photographer, Injures Several Others At Spanish Festival In Tordesillas (PHOTOS)

Bull Gores Photographer At Spanish Festival
TORDESILLAS, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 17: A bull charges over a photographer during the 'Toro de la Vega' bull of the plain festival on September 17, 2013 in Tordesillas, Spain. The festival is one of the oldest in Spain. Once the bull arrives to the plain, 'Vega', from the village it is killed to honour the 'Virgen de la Pena'. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
TORDESILLAS, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 17: A bull charges over a photographer during the 'Toro de la Vega' bull of the plain festival on September 17, 2013 in Tordesillas, Spain. The festival is one of the oldest in Spain. Once the bull arrives to the plain, 'Vega', from the village it is killed to honour the 'Virgen de la Pena'. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

A Spanish festival in which residents of Tordesillas chase down and slaughter a bull ended in bloodshed for both the nearly 1,280-pound animal and participants.

According to The Associated Press, on Tuesday, the bull gored two people including Pedro Armestre, a freelance Agence France-Presse photographer who was covering the annual event. A Red Cross spokesman told AFP that a total of 12 people were injured during the Toro de la Vega festivities.

The bull was eventually killed by a crowd of people who pursued it across a bridge and into a meadow, where it was surrounded.

toro de la vega
Horsemen ride next to a bull during the 'Toro de la Vega' bull of the plain festival on September 17, 2013 in Tordesillas, Spain. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

The 41-year-old photographer sustained an injury to his right thigh and was transported to a hospital in the region. As El Pais reports, Armestre was behind a tree, attempting to shield himself from the large animal, when the bull struck him.

Both Armestre and the other unidentified festivalgoer who was gored by the bull are expected to recover.

Ahead of this year's Toro de la Vega, hundreds of animal activists protested the bull-slaughtering festival that has been celebrated in the town of Tordesillas for centuries.

The annual event is one of several festivals held in Spain that involve bullfighting. Earlier this year, dozens of people were injured during the Pamplona's seven-day Running of the Bulls festival, including 23 festivalgoers who were crushed in a stampede on the sixth day.

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