Judge punishes dad who took son bull running

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish man who took his 10-year-old son bull running during the annual Pamplona festival last week has had his visitation rights to the boy taken away by a judge.

The youngster's mother complained to police after seeing a newspaper photograph of her ex-husband leading their son by the arm just a few feet in front of the bulls, El Mundo reported on Tuesday.

A member of the mother's family said they didn't want the boy to lose touch with his father, but added the man needed to be taught a lesson.

"We want him to get a warning, so that he realizes that his main duty is to look after the boy's well-being," the relative said.

The judge in the town of Fuenlabrada, south of Madrid, ordered police to find the boy, who had been spending his holidays with his father, and return him to his mother immediately.

At least 15 people have been killed running the bulls in Pamplona since 1924. During the nine-day festival, made world famous by Ernest Hemingway in his novel "The Sun Also Rises," thousands of often drunken runners hurtle through the streets in front of charging bulls on their way to death in the town bullring.