Barcelona Zoo – galgo statue

The galgueros will always continue to deny any of them maltreat their dogs. There are a few who do not but they are as guilty insofar as they do nothing to prevent the majority who abandon, murder, starve their hounds. I have copied this from a post on my Save the Galgo facebook page.

Trying to sell a distinction between killing and disposing of Galgos.

The galguero federations across Spain have become very active in defense of the claims that galgos in the tens of thousands are abandoned and brutally abused and killed at the end of each hunting season.

Their claim is that these acts are not from federation members, of which there were 190,000 registered in 2013 with 500,000 galgos registered to hunt. These abandonments and brutal acts, they claim, are coming from thieves that steal their dogs and subsequently abuse them in horrible ways.

Mainstream media, social media and a growing outrage from around the globe from the pictures, videos and documented cases of brutality has begun to put pressure on the galguero and the cultural traditions of this sport. They have obviously realized that the many grotesque and stark images that are being seen around the world cannot be disputed and that shifting the blame away from them is a strategy they need to adopt.

Whether one chooses to believe their defense or not, one unexplained issue you will never see addressed by the galguero federations. Why in all of your literature, your seminars and workshops, your official websites, your official press releases: why, is there absolutely no mention of the galgo’s life beyond it’s useful days as a hunter?

Why is there never any discussion about or pictures of or sharing of those retired from the hunt? Why is there never any discussion or documentation of rehoming retired galgos after you are done with them? You can raise holy hell about being blamed for the most sensational and egregious acts that circulate around the media and try to deflect blame away from you but you cannot account for where all of the tens of thousands of retired hunting galgos end up each and every year. Brutally killing or disposing of them in some less obvious way is still killing them.

There is a reason that a prominent statue was erected at the Barcelona Zoo dedicated to The Abandoned Galgo, your countrymen know that there is no distinction or innocence in your methods.

The translation on the stone, roughly translated, is “The abandoned dog” your race does not matter, insignificant is your name, Your life so short, dedicated to the man, you are the loyal client, giving boundless love, which is reflected in your eyes, like a flame for independence, until the last day comes, final and leaving your sad life.’

We all know that the galgo federation claims are absolute rubbish!