Two very sickening stories, both from Andalucia region, a veritable hell hole for galgos and podencos. The first one was in Jaen, where a starved and dying galgo lay on the pavement whilst people walked by. No-one helped. It was too late by the time the person who took the photo found him.
The second story is from La Linea shelter, down near Gibralter, where Peter does amazing work helping the abandoned dogs. Peter has been visiting a place called Los Junquillos where there were reports of a totally neglected and skinny galgo. When Peter got there, he found that someone even had smashed his feet. The vet had to take out some bones from the feet and now the galgo is on medication for the pain and infection. How many barbaric people live in this little town..dear lord! La Linea
WARNING – UPSETTING PHOTOS
Jaen
Comments
22 responses to “The Shame of Spain – what the tourists don’t see”
I am so sorry, poor baby, where was the good samaritan?! What is wrong with these people? How can they just walk on by? It is like they have something missing, no heart, no soul! That poor dog with the smashed feet, evil, despicable people to do this. Thank goodness for Peter, he should be Saint Peter! Never, ever will I go anywhere near the hell hole that is Andalucia. Will the dog with the smashed feet recover, will he be able to walk? If there is any update on him, I would like to know.
Animal cruelty, dying galgos, bullfighting…
The European Union could even not establish a minimal standard of keeping animals and dealing with them.
Or they never really bothered.
Sometimes I really ask myself: what is the Brussels administration good for..?
P.s.: if the Spanish government can not stop the animal cruelty then they need some central help to do the right thing! This is at a Third World niveau in the middle of Europe.
Why were they allowed to join EU? They are such a barbaric nation … should let them be alone until they can work out how to be civilized.
I´ve lived in Spain for 9 years and I still can´t get used to this. PLEASE remember, not all Spanish people are like this so please don´t class them all in the same way. The majority, certainly that I know, absolutely love their animals.
Please do NOT tar all the Spanish people with the same brush. You wouldn’t believe how many desperately try to stop this (and bull fighting), to educate the people and to help wherever they can. The vast majority of Spanish vets give their time and resources free to help the Galgos and Podencos as well as all the other Spanish dogs in the same situation. The shelters are full to bursting point and people do what they can to make whole again what a minority has broken. Due to all the good work organisations such as Scooby, Baasgalgo, 112Carlotagalgos, Galgos Del Sol, El Amparo and countless others do the plight of these wonderful dogs has, at last, reached the ears of the Spanish government and more and more perpetrators are beeing called to book. Sadly, not all can be identified and carry on doing their heinous deeds – but their time will come. There is, however, no excuse for people to just walk by and ignore a dieing or injured animal.
If you really want to help stop this cruelty once and for all please join us on Facebook and help us highlight the situation, shame the perpetrators and make people in other countries aware of what’s happening. The more loud voices we cann add to the general ‘chorus of lament’, the better the chance of bringing about change.
TypePad HTML Email
You are right, Jan, many Spanish people love their
animals but still a very large majority do not and we have to pity them in their
ignorance. But it is also up to us all to publicise the atrocities because
it is only in this way that we stand a chance of reaching those people to turn a
blind eye, or go to Spain on holiday and dont realise what goes on behind the
scenes. Regular readers of GN know that I always praise the volunteers
who work on behalf of the voicless innocents, but nevertheless, maltreatment,
cruelty and murder still rule the roost, otherwise how come there are, in the
past 12 months, over 100,000 galgos abandoned to their fate one way or
another. The worst year ever since I became involved in the plight of the
galgos. Thanks for caring and commenting.
unfortunately… bad, really bad people are everywhere, europe, Asia etc.
HANG THEM ALL !!
TypePad HTML Email
Hi Ulrika, Im disappointed that you do not count
include Galgo News and myself in all the good work. Galgo News started
long before Galgos del Sol – in fact it was due to me supporting Tina and
publicising the galgos at Los Infiernos which Tina was helpingthat GdS
evolved. Also, if you have read my book, you will know that I praise the
work of the volunteers and associations. And I have to disagree – it is
not the minority who cause the problem but the majority still, when we look at
the problem of cruelty in the name of tradition, mass abandonment etc.
And it is also due in some measure to my work on Galgo News and Podenco Post in
organising letter-writing campaigns, publicising petitions etc, that we now
receive a response from the national and regional governments – albeit standard
letters, but at least we get a reply. The hunting federation still ignores
us, but we keep writing. And it is through Galgo News and Podenco Post
that people who have absolutely no desire to go on Facebook learn of all the
news both good and bad. And my lovely readers are always the first to
respond to appeals for donations to pay for vet fees for injured and sick
dogs. My Facebook Save the Galgo and Help the Podencos pages have
thousands of followers and many people highlight the situation there. So I
will continue to write as I always have, to curse the bastards in Spain who walk
by a dying dog and turn a blind eye, and the bastard galgueros, and praise the
volunteers and publicise their work. And YES, I doknow how many
people desperately want to try and stopit – I write about it in national
newspapers and magazines too, including bull-fighting. Ive posted about
the sick horse-wrestling, fire bulls, stoning donkeys etc. Im the first
to stand up and shout. Ive travelled to Spain and spoken to people at the
sharp end of the wedge. How much of this have YOU done.
my heart breaks for these poor souls day in and dayout always woundering what poor souls pic and story is going to come up next unforgivable what they have done
I am not on facebook and I prefer to read about the galgos and pods on this blog. I have learned a lot since reading this blog and I believe that the cruelty to animals in Spain is prolific. How can it be a minority when 100,000 galgos are abandoned in one year, then there is the bullfighting, bull runs, fire bulls. I watched something on YouTube about the rescue of podencos – smashed legs, chopped off ears, chopped off noses, walking skeletons. I know that there is cruelty in every country, UK is bad enough but I cannot imagine there being a starving, dying dog laid there on my street and every single person just walking by. How come the rescuers in Spain are often in such despair at the never ending cruelty? Those Spanish rescuers are the angels of Spain and deserve every respect. I just don’t believe that it is a minority who are cruel to their animals, I think that there is a big problem in Spain, especially for the hunting dogs.
Yes in fact when I told to our local vet here in Hungary what is going on in Spain, she was shocked but she immediately told me that one of the BEST animal lover family in our little village was a Spanish family who worked here for a couple of years.
Nevertheless, I do think that the EU should have established a MINIMAL STANDARD OF ANIMAL WELFARE which should be mandatory for ALL member states.
I do not exclude my own country Hungary where neglecting pets (keeping dogs in too small kennels, keeping them on a chain) happens still frequently.
Before joining the EU it should have been mandatory to root out all these practices, the chained dogs, the Irish greyhound breeding practices (mass murder on greyhounds) the yearly galgo Holocaust and above everything the bullfighting.
It would have been a great help to many Spanish animal lovers and animal protection activists.
But never too late… I wish Brussels would care a little bit for the tons of money they get…
… instead of finding explanations why they can not prohibit all this.
In fact I have never heard in Hungary that people left a badly injured dog or cat or any other animal lying on the street.
God knows there are some problems here but the absolute majority of the people do not tolerate cruelty and they do try to help when seeing an injured animal.
Bullfighting would not be tolerated here I am sure.
When someone had beaten up his dog very badly (it was even featured on TV) then some Hungarians did not want to wait for the court and they beat up the guy within days after the crime.
Maybe in Spain there are many people who do not want to be involved in any way or in some areas the people do not know whom to call at all when seeing an injured animal (?)
I just wonder what is going wrong in the system.
Maybe some people simply walk away because they think that when they call a vet they must pay for the dog but they have no idea whom else to call… Is it possible?
I also think that many people have no clue about the whole galgo racing thing. I think this because in Ireland I observed that many Irish people have never had anything to do with the greyhound industry. They only know that there is such a breed but that’s it.
And yes, some of them bet on the races via Internet or whatever method and have NO CLUE WHATSOEVER what is REALLY going on there! I lived in Ireland for 2 years and witnessed this.
Same is true for the horse racing industry.
That is why blogs like this one are ESSENTIAL!
Beryl you are doing a great work! Thank you for this blog.
Hi Beryl,
Let me start by answering your last question. I have done more than you will ever know;I just dont shout it from the roof tops as I do not like publicity. I do things quietly and well behind the scenes. Massive donations, publicity and fundraising events are just some of the things I have done so far. Next year will see even bigger events such as The Bike Run For The Galgos and the patron project – just keep an eye on Formula 1 and the tops of certain drivers helmets.
I am sorry to say that I feel mildly offended by your mail. I did not mention you or GalgoNewsin big letters because I didnt think I had to, bearing in mind that you are well known to insidersbut merelymentioned some of the organisations as examples of the good work many
ofthe Spanish peopleand British ex-pats do.
I may be rubbing you up the wrong way again but Ithink its rather sad that you are still under the misconception that all Spanish people are the same. They are not, I can assure you.
Besides, who are we to talk! We are not the saints everybody in the UK seems to think we are and I consider it morally wrong to elevate ourselves over and above the Spanish. Ok, the UK doesnt have the wholesale slaughterof dogs on her hands but we are doing away with thousands of Greyhounds every year in just as brutal a manner as the galgueros. We have the RASPCA who resort to using captive bolt guns to put down dogs which they feel are too distraught to handle in a humane manner. And what about dog fighting? Oh yes, its still going on! What about show jumping, hurdle races, greyhound races, the inhumane methods used by the majority of the the British
slaughterhouses, the mass abandonment of horses and ponies in Wales, the sale of dogs to China for the dog meat trade – the list is endless. How does the saying go? People in glass houses…..!
I have never been to Spain (and I have no intention to do so) because I am not willing to give that government a single penny of my hard earned money but I am more than happy to support the Spanish vets who give endless freehours of their time and their resources to help injured, brutalised and tortured aninals and I am honoured and privileged to support as many refuges and rescue centres as I can, regardless whether they are run by Spanish or British people. If I manage to save just one animal in any given year and manage to convert just one Spanish person in the same space of time then, to me, that is a victory.
Before I end my mail, I would likeyou to keep an eye on Channel 4s Unreported world. There
will be a programme on the TV this coming autumhighlighting the plight of the Galgos, Podencos, Pointers and other dogs in Spain – please speak to me later in the year and ask me again what I have ever done.
Ulrika Schofield, aka Sparrow
Globally there is neglect and cruelty…goverments in every nation should be ashamed this is there problem and they could sort it with the stoke of a pen by bringing a law that will make people fear ever doing this sort of stuff to a pet or creature ever again,they should have dog wardens in every county,and the goverments should be paying for there food and shelter,these goverments sit back and do nothing…..they should face up to there resppnsibilities that’s why they get voted in,they are supposed to run the country properly and that includes our dearly loved pets.
yep all countries are the same dont give a shit as long as they are ok in their big fancy houses with their big flash cars etc animals are only a thing to them they all make me sick and the poor greys over here in this country yep they do go through it you onlyy have to look at action for greys site to see that an ireland even worse most of the humane race were animals are concerned pff i give up on most of them beryl does know that not all spanish are the same there is a lot of spanish people out there doing what they can good for them i think it is gret what you have done ulrika re the gal and pod situation dont have ago at each other we all need to stick together and fight as one for these lost souls united we stand devided we fall keep your peckers up the animals need us
TypePad HTML Email
Well, thats good to know. I dont shout if
off the rooftops neither., the amount of work I do behind the scenes of
both my blogs. So lets just have a simple list of things everyone should
look out for and when and then Ill post it separately. Beryl
I haven’t seen anything on this blog that categorically states that ALL Spanish people are cruel to their animals. At the end of the day this is a blog about the plight of the galgos, not about horse racing, fur farms, dog fighting, as horrendous as all of this is, there are other forums and campaigns for these. I have read posts on this blog praising the Spanish rescuers. What is the point in just posting good news stories? The more info that gets out there about the plight of these hunting dogs, the better. There is mass cruelty going on in the UK but again, this blog is about the hunting dogs in Spain. It seems obvious to me that all Spanish people are not cruel and that there are clearly some amazing Spanish people involved in the rescue and treatment of the dogs but certainly the vast majority of galgueros seem to be very cruel indeed. Anything that gets the message out there about these dogs and makes the ordinary, average person like me, sit up and take notice seems like a very good thing to me. I believe that this blog contributes greatly to that.
hi i read a story about the rspca not in our area somewhere else in the uk to cut a long story short one of their officers was told to take 2 staffies found the bk of a vet and shoot them reason they didnt have room at their shelter one of them poor staffies was pregnant the officer left after that couldnt go on no more didnt agree some of the rspcas policies
TypePad HTML Email
Thank you, Kathryn, for supporting me. I did
take the comments personally, which is why I reacted as I did, because I do
support the volunteers and praise them often. Thanks to everyone for
caring.
Well said Jenny! We all do what we can to end the cruelty; we shouldn’t be having a go at each other but standing together to become a force to be reckoned with! I applaud anyone who raises funds, awareness etc. because it’s not an easy thing to do. And as for the people on ‘the front line’ in the rescues, facing heartbreak and disappointment daily, I cannot put into words my admiration. Beryl knows better than many of us as she’s been there and seen it; I can only live it through the eyes of my rescued galgo/pod cross Gandalf. I am heartbroken every day when I see reports on here, Facebook etc. of the immense scale of cruelty worldwide and we can’t say any one species is more deserving than another. But the dog in his many forms has lived alongside us for thousands of years and yet we treat them with such inhuman cruelty. I look at my little fat Gandalf every day and shed tears for the thousands that have been robbed of their lives by a relatively small percentage of barbaric scum who are protected by the very people who should be punishing them – the authorities and governments of the EU. Please direct your arguments where it will have the greatest effect, not at each other.
TypePad HTML Email
Very well said, Jay. Thanks for caring and
supporting the greyhounds and galgos, as you do.