Daniel Macarro owns milk pitchers, T-shirts and windshield covers with the likeness of his favorite celebrity on them, and he has five DVDs of his exploits. He has driven hundreds of miles to see the star in action.
The object of his attention is an 1,100-pound bull named Ratón, "Mouse" in Spanish. "I get giddy when I am going to see him," says Mr. Macarro, a 28-year-old construction worker whose girlfriend won't let him get a Ratón tattoo on his back. Says Mr. Macarro: "He is the king of bulls in Spain."
The bull may be Spain's unofficial national symbol, but few achieve renown in their lifetimes. Lately Ratón—one of thousands of bulls that chase amateur and professional bull runners in annual town festivals—is whipping up a fervor like few in the bull-running business have seen in years.
The prices Ratón's owner charges for public appearances of the black bull with white on his snout and belly have soared, and spectators jam bull-running arenas just to get a glimpse of the famed animal—who has gored two runners to death. In winter, people drive for hours and pay €20 (about $27) to visit his ranch.
Early Sunday morning in Canals may have been Ratón's last performance. His owner says he is considering retiring the 11-year-old bull, who he says is slowing down, but that depends on how much demand there is for his services next year.
"Without a doubt, Ratón will be the bull of our time," says Vicente Benavent, a longtime bull rancher in this eastern region of Spain.
Ratón's popularity stands out particularly because Spain's other major bull event, bullfighting, is under siege in many parts of the country. Barcelona held its last-ever bullfight Sunday amid a new regional ban of the spectacle. Bull runs are going strong. In fact, while Catalonia banned bullfights, it didn't touch bull runs. That would have caused an uproar.
Running bulls started in the Middle Ages as Spanish ranchers had to transport the fierce beasts to town, says Juan Pablo de Benito Polo, an organizer of Spain's oldest bull run in Cuellar. Today, a typical bull run, like the most famous one in Pamplona, takes place in narrow city streets or in a dirt arena. Obstacles including staircase pyramids and high stages dot the rings to give bull runners a refuge as they dodge the bulls.
The ultimate goal of a bull run is to put on a good show. Professional bull runners will run very close to the bulls and try to get the beasts to climb the pyramid or the high table and sometimes do flips and jumps over and around them. The bull run is over (in the case of those that take place in arenas rather than down city streets) after about 15 to 20 minutes.
There is no "objective" per se other than spectacle. At the end the rancher removes the bull from the arena by opening a side door or by bringing in a tame bull the fierce bull will follow out of the ring.
Passionate fans of bullfighting, which emerged in its modern form in the 1700s, turn up their noses at bull running. A bullfight involves a highly choreographed sequence in which a matador faces down and typically kills a bull bred to be fierce.
It is a nearly religious ritual with ancient undertones of man-versus-beast rivalry, says Juan Medina, a bullfighting blogger and professor of economic theory at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain. Bullfights have "a certain liturgy, an officiant—a sort of priest who dresses in lights and carries out a form of sacrifice of the bull," he says. "I don't see that sense of mysticism in bull runs. They seem to me more like a game."
Gregorio Jesús García Collantes, Ratón's owner and a former matador, responds that not everyone has it in him to be a bullfighter. Bull runs allow regular people to face their fears.
From an early age, Ratón, who was born in 2000, showed a wily intelligence, Mr. García Collantes says. Instead of slamming into barriers protecting spectators, Ratón was able to turn quickly and keep following runners. Obstacles in bull-run arenas that flummoxed other bulls Ratón simply jumped onto in one leap, he says.
In the early 2000s, word began to spread in the Valencia region about the smart and agile bull. "Ratón can trick you. You go around a high stage one way and he'll meet you on the other side," says José Vicente Ponce, a 34-year-old former professional bull runner who worked with the bull.
People started flocking to the beast's appearances and posting videos online. On Facebook and Twitter, people praised the bull and requested he go after bankers and politicians. In 2007, people started paying to see the animal at his ranch.
Even when Ratón's exploits turn deadly—in addition to the two deaths at least five people have been injured—supporters have stuck by him and amplified his fame.
"Other bulls trip over themselves and don't know where they're going. They don't think. This bull thinks," said José Maestro Figueres on a recent afternoon after trying to get a glimpse of the beast over the wall of Ratón's ranch in Sueca, Spain.
Some bull ranchers, who have been hurting amid the economic crisis, complain that Ratón is only getting attention for the deaths and injuries.
While bull ranchers typically charge about €1,000 for each appearance of their bulls, Ratón has commanded fees 10 times as high, according to press reports.
Mr. García Collantes won't disclose Ratón's fees, but agrees that they are higher than for other bulls.
Expectations were high ahead of the Canals show early Sunday. Tickets to the event sold out, and people lined up outside the arena hours before the bull appeared.
At show time, Ratón sprinted into the dirt arena to the soundtrack of "The Last of the Mohicans," and the crowd stood and cheered.
But they soon turned subdued as the bull charged few runners and had some trouble climbing the staircase pyramid. The announcer noted several times that 11 years for a bull is similar to 80 years for a man. After the run, 22-year-old Pedro Pulido, who has seen Ratón perform more than 20 times, was disappointed. "Ratón has gotten old. He was OK today, but now he's just another bull," he said.
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