Seville – don’t walk in the olive groves

Hell on earth for galgos. This story is from Jane Brian of Pepis Dog Refuge, Pedrera, Seville. It happened on 21st March 2014 – the first day of Spring!

‘Today is a day I will never forget. It reminded me of the reason why we started the refuge, after finding a dog hanging from a tree in 2005.

I was just about to leave the refuge when I spotted a black Galga trotting up the hill close by, I grabbed a lead and jumped into my car and set of up the track to try and catch her. I took the track I saw her take, but lost sight of her for one second, where the road forked off, I took the right fork, which took me to where I could see for some distance, which made me realise I may have taken the wrong fork, so I doubled back to the left fork, and 30 yards along the track, I could see the Guarda,
gamekeeper) putting his gun away.

In front of his car was the black Galga laying there, twitching, she had been shot through the neck. I was 30 seconds too late from stopping this happening to her. He said she would have killed the rabbits, and unfortunately, it’s his job to shoot stray dogs.

I am angry, upset and horrified, everything here in Spain is KILL KILL KILL.

I knelt down and cradled her head in my hands until she moved no more.

I believe to do his job, the only requirement is to be born out of wedlock….

This is not a cry for sympathy, but for help, we must do more to try and stop this.

Tonight we went and spoke to our vet about what happened to the Galga and she told us she has spoken with the guarda who shot her, and the outcome is that from now on, he will contact us or our vet, Sandra, before he shoots another Galgo. Sandra was angry that he could see this dog was not in a bad condition and should have assumed that this dog had in fact escaped and was not abandoned, Alan had the chip machine in the car, and it did indeed have a chip and was homed, but had escaped, the owner has been notified, she was also very angry that the dog was so near our refuge and told the Guarda that it could have been from us.

Lets hope the Guarda keeps to his promise, and another dog will not be needlessly killed.’

There are many galgos and podencos at Pepis waiting and waiting for their forever homes. Please support them, find a place in your heart and home for one.