AN animal rights activist from Ulverston took part in a mass protest in Spain against the controversial tradition of bull fighting.

Lydia Smyth, 23, took to the streets of Pamplona - famous for its "Running of the Bulls" - with more than 100 others with signs reading 'Stop the Bloody Bullfights.'

The protest was organised by PETA and Spanish animal-protection group AnimaNaturalis. Activists dressed as 'bulls' and 'runners' and shot blood red flares into the sky.

They were calling for an end to the bull running, which is part of San Fermín festival. Opponents to the festival say that dozens of bulls are terrorised and struck as they are chased through the cobbled streets on their way to a violent death in the bullring.

Lydia, a former student of Ulverston Victoria High School, said: "I was proud to represent the vast majority of people around the world, whose tolerance of the archaic, murderous spectacle of bullfighting ran out long ago.

"It's time that Pamplona stopped allowing terrified bulls to be speared and stabbed to death for this form of so-called 'entertainment' that's nothing more than bloodlust."

PETA – which has a motto which includes the statement: "animals are not ours to use for entertainment" – has highlighted that more than 100 Spanish towns and cities have banned bullfighting.

However, in Pamplona, they say bulls are tormented with electric prods and sharp sticks before slipping and sliding along the narrow streets. PETA has said that once in the bullring, as many as eight men taunt, beat, and jab each bull with daggers and harpoon-like banderillas until he becomes weakened from blood loss.

Then, the matador stabs the animal with a sword and an executioner cuts his spinal cord. According to PETA, many bulls are paralysed but still conscious as they are chained and dragged out of the arena.

Lydia works for PETA and has been involved in protests before.

In February, she took part in a protest against the use of fur in clothing at London Fashion Week.