Last November we were all delighted with the news that nearly 200 galgos had been siezed by SEPRONA police who were trying to stop a ‘trade’ in galgos. The dogs were moved to a compound and the case proceeded through the legal system. As the months have gone by, word has come out of Spain that all was not well with these galgos. Some became ill, some died…………….and the last word was that the judge sitting in the case finally decided that, as the galgos were originally stolen, those which survived should be returned to their original owners! On my visit to Cordoba at the beginning of June, there remained only 2 galgos which were available for adoption.
This is the story of what has happened to the galgos, known as the ‘trafic galgos’, as explained to a member of a French rescue association by the owner of one of the refuges where some of the remaining galgos were taken after being removed from the original compound.
‘The galgos who were brought here by the operations “Harry” en “Clavillo”, so also the 45 you have seen, were not all here given for adoption but in “deposit” so the Guardia Civil could check if they were stolen or not. For that purpose, there were many special days orginised for the people who had put charges with the police about their stolen dogs and they were given the opportunity to come here and check if their stolen dog was here in deposit. And if so and when they could prove that it was their dog, they got the dog back from the police.
Since I am here there were 2 of these special days from the Guardia Civil. The first time, about 11 dogs were taken home by their owner and the second time, 12 dogs went back to their owner, so that is a total from 23 dogs and probably before my coming here there were more of these special days on which owners took home their dogs.
I would also rather see the dogs go to nice and loving families in the rest of Europe but this is the way things go with stolen properties in Spain, they return them to the owners and that is what happened with the dogs you have seen here. The dogs which are left here from operation “Harry”, the judge has decided that they are free for adoption now, but they are just 3 or something like that.
The dogs left from operation “Clavillo” are not yet free for adoption but there are also left maybe 3 or 4, I don`t know exactly and Bartolo says, that if we are going to give these last dogs from “Clavillo” for adoption and an owner should come and want his dog back, we and the association who adopted him/her, are going to get big problems if the dog is abroad, because the dog HAS to return then.
We could not do that to any family, it should be heartbreaking, so they have to stay here in the shelter or at least stay in the neighbourhood here and if anyone want to adopt them that at least they know what can be the consequences of adopting a dog like that. It is a very difficult issue, for everybody, but that`s the way it is.
I am very sorry but I hope you can understand this.’
So, there we are. There is a trade in stolen galgos in Spain, that is already known, and the time is drawing near when the Spanish refuges containing galgos will be fearful that, towards the end of August and early September, these galgos are at risk of being stolen at night by the gypsies, for sale to galguerros, and even back to the volunteers at the shelter from which they were originally stolen.
These poor dogs are simply an inanimate object to these (mostly) men, and it is an enormous task to change their mind state. In the meantime, we can only hope that the poor survivors of Operation Harry y Clavillo are not yet again suffering at the hands of their original owners……………………