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Intervene to end appalling bets: appeal to Paddy Power directors
25 June 2008 The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has pleaded with the directors of Paddy Power to intervene to stop the company's appalling bullring bets. Visitors to its Spanish website are being invited to guess how many ears will be cut off the heads of tortured bulls or predict whether the number will be even or odd. "We are writing to appeal to your sense of compassion and to implore you to please use your influence as a director of Paddy Power Plc to scrap the company's appalling bullring bets," we stated in our correspondece to:
Breon Corcoran - Executive Director
Please urgently respond to our action alerts below and forward them to everyone on your contacts list. Thank you. Video - Paddy Power - Stop the Bullring Bets
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ACTION ALERT 1 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
Email: ppower@paddypower.com; info@paddypowerplc.com
Sample Letter
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 ACTION ALERT 2 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 3 Please show your opposition to Paddy Power's appalling Spanish bullring bets by downloading a copy our new Protest Page. Simply print, sign and present to the manager of your local Paddy Power betting shop. Alternatively, place in an envelope and post to the manager. Download Now (pdf, 190 Kb) For the names and addresses of Paddy Power shops, visit the company's website ACTION ALERT 4 According to a 2006 Gallup poll, a mere 7 per cent of Spaniards are "very keen" on bullfighting. Urgently contact the Spanish Prime Minister and tell him that bullfighting is a blemish on Spain's reputation and must be brought to an end. If the continuation of bullfighting makes you choose a different holiday destination, please point this out in your correspondence.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
Images: Ear being cut from a tortured bull that is still alive These stills from our campaign video have been sent to Paddy Power's Head Office as part of our appeal to the company to scrap its bullring bets. (Images: Pablo Knudsen)
Campaign Postcard - "Paddy Power - 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 "Nš 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.
Photos: A bull's ear being cut off
Campaign Video: Paddy Power Plc - Stop the bloody bullring bets
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Video: Bullfighting Cruelty in Spain
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