‘They had a date to kill the cow. So I stole her’: how vegan activists are saving Spain’s farm animals

Spain may be famous for its love of meat - but sanctuaries across the country are coming to the rescue of its doomed cows, bulls, pigs, sheep and geese

In the north-east Spanish region of Catalonia, an enormous bull called Pedro is poking his head over a barn door to look at some sheep. He'll stay there for two hours if the sanctuary volunteers let him; he'll have to be tempted away with treats so that the sheep can be let out to graze. Pedro knows the routine; he's been here since he was a calf, when he was bottle-fed by volunteers. He lives a charmed life - he is fed, he roams, he watches sheep, he sleeps; and when he dies, it will be of natural causes.

He's enormous!" I say to Olivia Gomez de Zamora, a veterinary assistant from Madrid who spends a lot of time coaxing Pedro from the barn.