Yes, 3 years since Craig and I launched Galgo News. Time to reflect on the past year, both highs and lows.

High has definitely got to be the completion of my book and its launch – to date we’ve done 2 print runs, selling over 100 copies of the printed book and 10 ebooks. And I haven’t even started the next phase of promotion! I’ve just changed my publisher and am waiting to take collection of the next print run. The book has also now been translated into Spanish – publishing will start in January 2011. And a French translation is currently under way.

We had a very successful ebay Auction in April organised by friends and supporters in America – it was a tremendous amount of work by Carla and Berta, they raised 1,700 euros which was spent on a large size dog trap and rebuilding work on one of the Spanish refuges which suffered horrendous damage during the severe floods last winter. We are very grateful to them, and to the supporters who bid for the items.

I’ve run letterwriting campaigns to the Spanish Government, galgo hunting federations, European Commissioner, Junta in Andalucia – we have to keep up the pressure on these people to persuade them to invoke the animal protection laws in Spain.

We’ve got notelets for sale and our first Galgo News Christmas card – every penny/euro raised goes towards veterinary and medicinal costs for injured galgos in Spain. You can purchase these items through Paypal using your account or credit card.

And I don’t forget all the friends I’ve made through Galgo News, it would be great if one day I could visit you all!

Lows – well, still the huge number of abandoned and injured galgos which find their way into the perreras for killing, refuges and shelters for care and rehoming. It seems to me there has been an increase in these numbers, which suggests that the hunters now have the attitude ‘we’ll just abandon the dogs, as they’ll be rescued and rehomed’. This is possibly the reason 90 galgos were dumped at the Villa del Rio shelter in Cordoba in January/February 2010. Sandra Baas and Letitia did a marvellous job of coping with this situation, and many of the dogs were rehomed outside Spain.

However, when I visited the shelter in June 2009, I was concerned to see hunting notices inside. It is reported that the owner of this shelter has links to the hunting federation in the area and that, whilst he has persuaded the members not to hang their dogs, there is no suggestion that he is also persuading them to keep their dogs during the rest of the year, rather than dump them, and to take measures to control the indiscriminate breeding of galgos.

Certainly there are hunters who are proud of their galgos and breed to keep good bloodlines but they are in the minority; it is the majority who continue to cause the annual problem of mass abandonment at the end of the hunting season in January, and contribute to the bad press about Spain around the world.

Another low is that, however much I publicise news from different associations and try and encourage them to join together in campaigns and petitions, there is still political infighting between them. An example of this is the refusal of the president of one of the largest galgo rescue associations in Spain to travel ‘just down the road’ to visit me in Barcelona next weekend, as I’ve been invited by SOS Galgos to their Les Noches des Galgos. How does this help the galgos, for goodness sake?!! It’s not about personalities, it’s about dealing with the plight of the Galgo Espanol in Spain!

Those of you who have read my book will know that in 2005/2006 Anne Finch joined with Francisco Salamanca, then president of the Federation Espanola de Galgos in opening up dialogue with the Ministry of the Environment……..after the initial meeting, none of the Spanish galgo associations took up the initiative to continue the discourse!

What are the thousands of people outside Spain who fundraise, donate money, dog coats and bedding, etc, to help the associations and volunteers in Spain supposed to think about this? How can we respect the associations if they didn’t take steps to help themselves when the opportunity was presented to them.

Not working together is one of the problems with the French associations too. There are in the region of 30 galgo rescue associations now – I lose count as they divide up and then divide up……why won’t they too join together sometimes in a mass campaign, such as I run on Galgo News? What about a mass protest outside the Spanish embassy in Paris, for example?

Galgo News has certainly taken over my life, there are many projects happening ‘behind the scenes’, some of which are eventually posted on GN, and my email Inbox is filled every day with stories of injured galgos and podencos, perreras overflowing with galgos, refuges and shelters submerging under the sheer volume of abandoned dogs – of all breeds and mixes, not just galgos. I post what I can, but not everything reaches the GN homepage.

Since its inception, Galgo News has reached many countries where the plight of the galgo was unknown. Many people now refuse to holiday in Spain, or purchase Spanish produce, as their own contribution to protesting about the situation. I’m proud to have contributed in however small a way to making the rest of the world aware of what goes on in the galgo hunting and racing world in Spain……it is time these people, plus the municipal, provincial and national governments recognised what a bad press they give their country.

We get nowhere without HOPE and we must all hope that one day we WILL make a difference.

Thank you all for your support.