Further to the news about the former Meridiana greyhound racetrack in Barcelona being reopened as a Contemporary Arts Centre, Anna Clements of SOS Galgos comments.
‘It is indeed good news that the Meridiana racetrack is history now.
I would just like to point out that SOS Galgos’ role in helping bring about the closure of the Meridiana racetrack. Some time before the closure we met …with a regional government MP who set in motion the move to increase the taxes generated by the racetrack that resulted in its bankrupcy and closure.
My husband and I had also organized a demonstration in the form of a protest march in 2004 to demand an end to the suffering of the 700 Irish greyhounds at the Meridiana track. It took us 3 months to organize the demonstration which was attended by over 800 people. This, together with endless meetings throughout the course of ten years to pressure for an effective animal protection of law also contributed to its closure. I also assisted Spanish police track down perpetrators of the illegal transport of greyhounds in a joint ISPCA and RSPCA sting operation.
The recently announced reopening of the racetrack as an art gallery with the financial backing of the Barcelona Town Hall is of course a very positive step. However, we were surprised that of the 224,000€ expenditure on this project, nothing was allocated to the greyhounds themselves, in the form of a small donation, despite the fact that our adopters kindly let their greyhounds be photographed for the 100 door-sized posters which were hung all around Barcelona. Neither did the posters include any message or text such as ‘help me find a home or we greyhounds and galgos need help’ or even our website address for further information.’
Thank you, Anna, for explaining so fully the background to the closure of the track and the appalling insensitivity of the town hall officials in not including SOS Galgos on the publicity posters. When I first read the story, I assumed the information was included somewhere on the billboards. As you say, these people stop thinking about the dogs themselves.