Too many dogs; too little money; too few helpers, rock bottom morale.
In an earlier post I reported on the Pedro Munoz refuge at Cuidad Real, 200 kms south of Madrid.
A refuge half built, before the Mayor pulled the plug on the funding.
Over 100 dogs, only three volunteers, and bills piling up which they haven’t the funds to pay.
They’re desperate for help.
Out of the 135 dogs currently in the refuge, there are 35 galgos – a month ago they didn’t have any galgos. That’s how fast they are coming in, as the hunting season in Spain comes to an end.
The land and buildings are the property of the town council. Last year the refuge received 6,000 euros from them to help, but this year the town has refused further funding, accusing the volunteers of taking dogs from other towns. What are they supposed to do, leave the dogs?
The refuge has 50 members, who pay 5 euros a month, some pay a little more, and the remainder of their finances come from families who have adopted galgos.
At the moment they have a debt of 7,000 euros to the vet. Many dogs have pneumonia, operations on galgos which come in with their legs broken or amputated.
All the dogs have to be castrated too. Their food debt is 1200 euros, and now the company says it will not supply them with any more food till the debt is settled.
Many of the dogs in the refuge will never leave, as the Spanish prefer to adopt puppies rather than adult dogs. There are 3 volunteers – 2 young women and an old man of 75.
Sometimes the boyfriends of the women help. They do everything, clean up after the dogs, treat wounds, give medication – 135 dogs, 365 days of the year! They even transport the dogs which are lucky enough to be adopted to the border – so add fuel costs on top of everything else.
How do they keep going? Morale is rock bottom, the girls are desperate for help.
A couple of French associations support them, like Amigos de Los Galgos, and Greyhounds In Nood in Belgium. They also receive donations from the USA, including a huge package last week of dog coats for the galgos, and Germany, from people who remember where their dog came from.
Although their full title is Protectora Animales y Plantas Pedro Munoz (PROAPE) website www.ciudadanimal.org, the girls try to keep their location secret, as no one is at the refuge at night, and the girls are terrified the galgos will be stolen again.
If you want to help Lidia, Loli and Emilio, anything will be welcome, however small, but if there is a really generous benefactor who could clear one of their large debts, their gratitude would be enormous.
Donate to
Protectora PROAPE, Pedro Munoz, Ciudad Real, Espana
SWIFT/BIC: CECA ES MM105
IBAN: ES19 2105 2012 01 1212026505
Amigos de Los Galgos
PAYPAL Banque; Caja Segovia
SWIFT/BIC : CECA ES MM 069
IBAN: ES82 2069 0027 09 0000166751
In case of difficulty, details are also on www.amigosdelosgalgos.org/
Comments
10 responses to “A Cry for Help from Pedro Munoz Refuge”
I wonder whether it would be worth contacting 30,000 d’Amis, the French animal welfare organisation? I know they are French, but they may be able to offer some help. There is also the Fondation Brigitte Bardot. Both of these outfits do a great deal for animals in distress; they may not turn their backs on their neighbours. Nothing to lose by getting in touch.
Hi Susie
My name is Charlotte (carlota) and I am trying to help Ciudad Animal. Lidia and friends. Any suggestions or help would be very welcome to them as they feel rock bottom life is hard in this area, aside just the freezing elements. I am permanently it feels, at the computer looking for links to write to, links for publicity for the galgos, activists etc and if you have details of the B.Bardot contacts would you beable to pass them onto me at all? I have tried desperately to find an email as I wouldlike to try to push the plight of the galgos into the main publicity. I would also like to organise a protest in adrid and Barcelona before the election in arch but time is against me and I am struggling for support, .. perhaps B.Bardot may back that?
Any help we can achieve for Lidia and co will be welcomed and not just the galgos, many of the other bredds enter and never leave .. at least they are safe there and she says, loved by them, something never felt before! Thanks for helping lidia.
Hi Charlotte
Here are the contact details for the BB Foundation: http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/site/fbb_a.php?Id=172&IdPere=
and the contact link for 30,000,000 amis is here: http://www.30millionsdamis.fr/menu-bas/contact.html
Here is another animal welfare organisation, and at the bottom of the page is a link to email them. http://www.protection-des-animaux.org/faq.php
I hope that one or more of them can be of help to you in some way, and I wish you the very, very best of luck.
Susie
Bonjour
Thanks for all the information here. I’ve circulated the plea to several galgo rescue associations as well.
What frustrates me is that it only seems to be us Brits who do fundraising, wherever in the world we live. Maybe anyone reading this sad plea for help would consider doing something to raise funds.
I’ve just found a site, justgiving.com on which a young woman was doing a 100 mile cycle ride to raise funds for GIN. So she could get sponsors from anywhere, not just local to her.
Anyone up for a cycle ride, running a half marathon, whatever?!
B
Hello,
We have recieved also this cry for help in Belgium and a local organisation is collecting, I believe a transport of goods will leave tomorrow
I have send it further to the foundation in Italy…..
Greetings
Debby
Hi Debbie
A million thanks for responding to Lidie’s plea for help. And for forwarding it on to Italy.
Can you tell more about collecting goods and transporting arrangements, so that maybe more of us can do the same?
B
Hello Susie Debbie & Beryl
SOOOOOOOOO many thanks for your support for Lidia… Susie MANY thanks for the web pages, i will get onto those asap.
Got feed back after some hard work with Pedigree who are running an adoption campaign, they have agreed to help the galgos however they cant do much on the campaign already set, so we have to wait until 2008 end beginning 2009…. will be pushing for an advance on that! If not at least see if they can donate food meantime.
Protest is being set up, have forwarded info to Beryls email.
Kepp well my galgo friends.
Hi Charlotte
Very best of luck. Let us know how you get on, please.
Very best wishes
Susie
It is interesting too to know than there is a woman in P.M. who say “she loves dogs”, who has her garage full of dogs crying because of hungry and fights, all night and day, disturbing the life of her neighborough. If she likes dogs “so much”, why don’t she sell her house in order to buy a apropiate place for the dogs she loves “so much”????
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Bonjour
Well, if what you say is true, then she should buy
a house away from where other people live. Perhaps the situation has
arisen because people are dumping their dogs on her and she does not have the
heart to have them euthanaised. Maybe it would be a better idea for people
to help her, she obviously needs a lot of help. Better that than complain
about her. And its the dogs who need the help, lets remember that is
what is important.
Thank you for reading Galgo News and
commenting.
Amities
Beryl
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/
http://www.galgonews.com
Helping to make
a difference
A person who has never known a dogs love has
missed a wonderful part of life. Bob Barker
The dog has no ambition, no self-interest, no
desire for vengeance, no fear other than that of displeasing.
Count of Buffon