Ban Dog Spinning

During this ritual, a rope is wrapped around a dog and the animal is suspended above a body of water, such as a river. The dog is turned repeatedly until the rope is twisted as far as it will coil. Then the coil is released so the dog spins wildly as the rope unwinds and the animal falls into the water.

Nothing is supposed to happen to the dogs used in the ritual, but photos from previous dog spinning days show the faces of terrified animals as they hang helplessly above a river or stream with a crowd of people cheering from the shore. In the past dogs have drowned because they are so disoriented when they drop into the water.

The practice was stopped in 2005 when the media outside of Bulgaria found out about the ritual and reported it to the world. Animal welfare organizations were outraged by its cruelty and the pressure they put on Bulgaria put an end to the practice.

But the mayor of Brodilovo, a rural Bulgarian village, had renewed the ancient ritual in 2011. He said, “Nobody is killing or hurting the dogs. They are brought by their owners who love them in order to take part in this folklore ritual, which is meant to cleanse the local community of evil and to generate fertility. The dogs are spun for about 15-20 seconds, and then they fall in the water, which amounts to bathing them.”