'Matador' Alonso makes Maneka Gandhi see red

New Delhi, Mar 17 (UNI) Formula one champion Fernando Alonso finds himself at the receiving end of Maneka Gandhi's ire with the animal rights activist MP asking the Spaniard to stop his a la matador celebrations.

On behalf of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Ms Gandhi shot off a letter to Renault's driver Alonso urging him to stop mimicking the motions of a matador confronting a bull while standing atop his car or the podium after winning a race, a PETA release said here today.

Describing bullfighting as a ''crude, cruel and cowardly spectacle'' Ms Gandhi said the Spaniard's actions offended millions of opponents of animal abuse -- including the people who held cows in high esteem for religious reasons -- around the world.

''The torment of a living being and his subsequent repeated stabbing and often slow death, as well as the removal of his ears is barbaric and no longer acceptable by any humane standard,'' she wrote in her letter.

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