A report from Asociacion Baasgalgo. This monument to galgos is in a small village near Fuensalida, a small town in Castile-La Mancha. ust under 12,000 citizens, a place where time stood still. When talking to Spanish, they will tell you its people consist mostly of paletos and gitanos, which translate as country bumpkins and gypsies.

More then half of them own galgos and hunt, legal, or illegal.

Hunting with galgos is so intwined and such a tradition in their lives, they felt the need to show their pride with a statue in the center of their little town. When driving through town, you will see plastic bags hanging from the trash containers.
Every household in Fuensalida will separate old bread from their other trash and put it in these bags for the hunters to feed their galgos. The chief of the local Guardia Civil is an avid hunter with galgos himself.

One night in October 2014. The Baasgalgo team.

We drive around, checking those bags hanging from the trash containers.
A torn bag means a stray galgo is in the area, surviving by eating the old bread.
In the dark of night, we see 2 young male galgos looking for food in the trash, one of them having a huge gash in his neck where his chip has been removed in order to prevent identification of its former owner.

We see cars speeding up when a galgo crosses just in front of them.
Someone points out the home where the hunter lives that was convicted of hanging 2 galgos while he claimed not to know this is illegal.

On the other side of town, a volunteer gets a visit from a gitano, handing over 2 galgos with the words, take them, or they will be on the streets tomorrow.
The next day he will return with another one, a female.

This one night, we get confirmed sightings of at least 6 galgos on the streets of this small town. 2 fawn, 2 black, a white and a brindle.

A local police message comes in, gitanos stole 5 galgos from a hunter.

We set up a trap on the outskirts of town.

Hoping to trap the fawn galgo that we have tried to catch for 3 days now.
A small dirt road leading to no where. Trash everywhere.

Under the cover of darkness, we see cars driving down this dirt road, we hear gunshots and keep our car doors and windows closed.

A day earlier we were visited on this exact same spot by the Guardia Civil.
Trying to intimidate 3 women in a van by shining their lights in our faces and asking questions, trying to make us leave.

Tonight, while there is a lot of questionable traffic going on, there is no sight of them.

This night we finally have success and the fawn male is caught. Not even 2 years old, no chip, no collar. And apparently no owner.

Just one saved of the many galgos in this tiny town.

While driving back we pass the statue to honor the bond between the galguero and his galgo.

Unfortunately the Baas Galgo website was attacked on a couple of occasions and so there is not much news on it now. All the news ison their facebook page.