A week in the life of an animal rescuer in Spain – could you hack it?!

Regular readers will know that wherever possible I praise the fantastic volunteers in Spain who give so much of their time and emotional and physical effort in helping the abandoned and mistreated animals, often at great cost to themselves.

So many stories continue to arrive in my Inbox, not just for help for galgos and podencos but other dogs as well. As I speak, efforts are being made by volunteers to catch a family of podencos, other galgos loose on the streets of several towns…..it is never ending.

This story is one example of a week in the life of a volunteer.

You will know Tina Solera of Galgos del Sol. Tina first made contact with Galgo News over 18 months ago when she worked as a volunteer at an animal refuge in Murcia. It seemed that wherever she went – kids to school, kids swimming, kids to parties, jogging… there were abandoned galgos. Originally she took them to the refuge and we made efforts to rehome them, with some success. Late last year Tina met Gaynor and Galgos del Sol was born, with volunteers and donations creating 5 kennels.

The pressure of rescuing abandoned and injured galgos and podencos has not let up. This is the tally just for the past week – 3 galgos, 3 puppies and a yorkie!

Ali has been roaming the area near Tina for some months, with a cord round her neck! Despite every effort, including with a dog cage, Ali has evaded capture. Tina has tried to win her confidence and, miraculously, today Ali decided to resist no more and Tina and Angela were able to catch her at last! Above is a photo of her with the cord before capture; here you will see a photo of her today – look right to see the cord after it was cut.

This black and white beauty is Guapita, spotted dodging the traffic until she was hit so hard, the bone was heard to crack. Today (Monday) she has undergone a 4-hour operation to try and put her leg back together. We await a progress report as I write. So that’s another big vet bill.

Lucas is the black beauty, taken by a hunter who had castrated the dog himself! He’s tall for a galgo, a gentle giant. He is covered in wounds but still loving and affectionate. He’s being prepared with his EU passport and desperately seeking his forever home.

Tina decided to have a day off on Sunday and go to the beach – no dogs except her own two, and her kids, off to the beach with friends. This was the tally on the drive to the beach – 3 litle ‘bandits’ all playing on the road – taken back to the kennel and safely locked in with food and water.

Just as the team leave for the beach and they find the 4th little puppy ‘playing with the traffic on the motorway, just about to become roadkill’ – in Tina’s words. I won’t fill you in on the rest of the story, suffice to say that, as you can see from the photo of the little brown bundle, covered in ticks and fleas, on the beach – Poppy was safely caught. See photo below of Angela after she ran along the motorway to catch the little bundle – cars whizzing by at 120 kmh!

These dogs all need checking by the vet, microchips, vaccination, sterilizing if they are old enough, food and medicines, and forever homes.

As with so many refuges, it’s a struggle for Tina and her team to keep their heads above water, they get no help from the municipal council – their vet bill continues to rise – so if you can donate towards these costs for these dogs, please do so through the website. And just a final mention – a million thanks to Jaime, supporting Tina in her work – where would so many of us be without the support of our partners.

And remember, this is just a week in the life of one volunteer, others throughout Spain are coping with similar situations!