Bullfighting festival in India where young men face a stallion...in the mud

A group of daring young men battled through the mud with angry bulls on Monday, in an often bloody Indian festival that angers animal rights activists.

The Gallicato, or taming of the bulls, is a popular annual event in Tamil Nadu in which revelers wrestle with the bulls until they surrender while running in front of crowds.

The animals, which are often decorated with marigold flowers (velvet), are released from the pens and then the young men try to catch them by the horns or their humps.

Awards for the best bull tamers include cars, motorcycles, refrigerators, televisions, gold coins and furniture.

This festival is still very popular despite the danger it carries.

A teenage spectator was gored by a bull on Friday and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, local media reported.

Such incidents are common, as many people have been killed in recent years during the festival after bulls breached the barriers separating fans from the "battles" arena.

Also, the treatment of animals has stirred controversy.

Activists say the animals are given alcohol and chili powder is thrown over their faces to make them aggressive before the competition.

In 2016, India's Supreme Court banned the Gallicato festival after animal rights groups said the bulls had been mistreated.

But the ruling sparked widespread protests in the state capital, Chennai, and other major cities in it, prompting the state government to issue an executive order allowing the festival to resume after a year.

Organizers and politicians in Tamil Nadu have denied that the animals have been mistreated, and festival fans describe Gallicato as a vital part of the region's culture and identity.

The number of competitors has been lower this year as India sees a resurgence in the number of Covid-19 infections with the spread of the mutant Omicron.

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