Animal activists celebrate cancellation of Tucson's Running of the Bulls-style event

An animal rights organization is celebrating the announcement of the cancellation of the Tucson Bull Run. This would have been Tucson’s first Running of the Bulls-style event.

The planners cited insurance as the reason for the temporary cancellation.

“Regardless of the reason, we are celebrating the fact that it has been canceled and that animals will not be exploited in this archaic and dangerous event,” said Brittany Michelson, campaign specialist for captive animals at In Defense of Animals in a press release. “Animals do not exist for human entertainment, and bull runs have no place in a modern, progressive society.”

Shortly after the announcement of the event in February, In Defense of Animals sent out an alert calling for the cancellation. Over 11,000 people responded to the notification.

“I definitely think the pressure from the alert helped. I think it was impactful, probably made them look at the whole thing more closely,” Michelson said. “Because you know we were describing how it was a dangerous event.

If the event is held, In Defense of Animals plans to protest. The organization has decided to keep their Feb. 28 alert active.

“I think we will keep it open, rather than closing the alert because we still want pressure to be on the decision makers,” Michelson said. “You know, regardless of the insurance issue we don’t want a bull run happening.”