Hilary Duff hears it from animal rights group

Singer/actress Hilary Duff is under fire from an animal rights group after scheduling tour dates at rodeos and bullfight arenas.

Duff, who was previously the darling of animal activists after launching her own line of cruelty-free cosmetics, played a run of gigs throughout last year at the Houston Rodeo in Texas, and is planning to perform at a bullfight arena in Barcelona, Spain.

But animal campaigners Showing Animals Respect and Kindness were disgusted by her choice of venues, and since mailed her grisly tapes of cruel behavior in rodeos and bullfights.

SHARK president Steve Hindi tells the National Enquirer, "If she is going to play these kinds of venues, where animals are killed and cruelly treated, we are going to call her on it."

Duff's lawyer Stanton Stein responds, "After all her high-profile and generous work on behalf of animals, Ms. Duff is being aggressively and unfairly singled out by a small fringe group that touts itself as an animal rights group."

sfgate