Tragedy struck this New Year's Eve when a young cowboy was gored to death by a rampaging bull in front of horrified crowds in Australia.
The unidentified cowboy, a 25-year-old from New South Wales, was riding on the back of a bull for the annual Warwick and Rodeo Society event in southeast Queensland just after 8pm last night.
But as the bull bucked, he was thrown off before the behemoth plunged its horn into his chest, leaving him with fatal wounds.
He was rushed to nearby Warwick Hospital but couldn't be saved.
The rider was new to the competition and competing in the novice bull ride category, local reports say.
Horrific footage shared online shows the moment the crowd watches as paramedics desperately try to save the young man behind a white screen on the rodeo floor.
The heartbroken organisers of the event say they will be supporting the cowboy's grieving family.
In a statement, the rodeo said: "In an effort to support the family, the Warwick Show and Rodeo Society will be 'Passing the Hat Around' today at our National Rodeo Association Junior Rodeo to assist in any way we can financially for the family with funeral arrangements, and where possible, any long term care for the family.
"Please understand that this is a very difficult time for the family, the Society, the National Rodeo Association, and his fellow competitors, so we request that the privacy of the family is upheld at this difficult time."
A fireworks display was set to take place at 8.30pm, but was cancelled after the rider's death.
The decision sparked anger from some attendees, but others lamented how people could be more concerned about fireworks than the young man's death.
"The fact that people are more concerned about the time the fireworks were going to start than someone's life is actually disgusting," one person said under the cancellation notice.
Last year, a worker at a bullring in Spain has died after being gored by an angry bull.
The man was killed when the bull jumped into the alley surrounding the ring and gored him, while another man was also injured in Fuenlabrada, near Madrid, Spain.
Noelia Nuñez, a candidate for Fuenlabrada mayor, saod "[The bull] gored the operator, who fell practically dead on the spot.
"He was in a very serious condition when they put him in the operating room."
Footage of the incident shows the killed worker bait the bull and trying to flee between the portable fences, but not managing to get there on time.
