Bosco – stolen by the gypsies!

Ines is a volunteer with the refuge Perrikus at Madrid. Bosco was her galgo. This is her story.

When I heard the news, my blood turned cold. Bosco had been stolen by the gypsies. It doesn’t bear thinking about, kept in a cage, maltreated.

How can we bear to think of her beloved galgo in the hands of the gypsies. It is agony. Where does she begin to search?

Bosco was a difficult galgo, very difficult. He was very aggressive with other dogs and also with humans.

Those who know galgos well said he had suffered terribly from maltreatment, to become so aggressive, because a galgo has a gentle, affectionate temperament, not rebellious at all.

She took him home with her to save him. And for a whole year she gained his trust with kindness and love and patience. We developed a wonderful bond, and Bosco changed completely. He became an adorable and happy galgo, they loved each other completely.

She is heartbroken, and fears she will never find him. She has appealed on radio and television. She fear Bosco will never return. He is probably somewhere in Andalucia, hidden in squalor.

His crime was to be born a galgo in Spain, and be seen by the gypsies.

– from Cristina de Luna

Beryl writes:

Those of us who do not live in Spain cannot comprehend this situation. It’s bad enough to lose a dog, through death, but to have one stolen, and by the gypsies. I send heartfelt sympathy to Ines and her friends who search for Bosco.

The problem of galgos being stolen from refuges and private homes in Spain is a serious one. When I joined one of the rescues in July 2007, we collected four galgos from La Bienvenida refuge, one of three huge refuges at Ciudad Real, a city 200 km south of Madrid.

La Bienvenida is outside the city, in open flat ground. Within sight of the entrance is a gypsy encampment (top left in the above image), so the gypies can see dogs arriving, any dogs being walked by the volunteers, especially galgos.

Domi, one of the volunteers working there, told me that a few months previously, gypsies had scaled the outer wall into the refuge and stolen four galgos. Two were later recovered, but two were never seen again.

Charl lives in Madrid. She says she is terrified of her galga, Ambo, being stolen. She sees people watching the dog whenever she is walked outside, and she dreads someone following her home, and stealing the dog if she is ever left alone.

You may also have read in these pages the story of Reina, who was rescued, then stolen, and then recovered. Her rescuers think she was dumped because of all the publicity about her being stolen. She is now rehomed in France.