The tale of a galgo puppy

I was sent this piece which is linked to a petition. I refuse to publicise the petition because it claims ‘8,000 hunting hounds (galgos) are disposed of every year. Not sure where the person starting the petition has been for the past few years, but the figure is more like 100,000! However, here you can read the story.

Let me tell you a story, close your eyes and open your heart: I’m a Spanish puppy.

I’m locked in a basement, in a hole with my mother, my brothers and sisters. My Mom’s sick, she’s had so many babies that her milk dries up very quickly and doesn’t give us anything that’s necessary.

She knows that the man will kill some of us because they are too weak; she is terrified when she hears the footsteps on the hard and cold ground of concrete. She already saw him kill his other puppies by slamming their heads against the wall of our cell, they weren’t strong enough for what he wanted to do with it. It’s been a long time since she saw the light of the sun, my poor skeletal mother. We live in our faeces and sometimes we hear dog screams: they slaughter them outside… Mommy shakes every cry because she knows that one day it will be her turn.

I’m older now, I’m terrified, just like mom was. He killed her yesterday… he burned her after he hung her. He doused her with gasoline and lit her with a lighter.

Every day he drags us to hunt rabbits and when we fail, he hits us until the blood comes out of our wounds; we are nothing but poor bloody things that he hangs on the ground and throws us in our cells slamming the door. We’re starving, our last piece of hard bread was a few days ago. I want mom, I moan, but he doesn’t care.

I am about a year old now, I’ve seen the galguero torture and bully my friends. My cousin is close to me, he’s dying, his wounds are open and a green and smelly liquid comes out. I see his eyes become vitreux, he leaves me, he’s gone, I love you my friend, take me with you!!! I will never forget you…

I’m two years old. I cling to life, I don’t want to die, I hear his footsteps in the hall, he comes for me, I know, I’m doing a little bit in a corner; we’re all hugging each other, Wait for the sentence: who will he hang? Who is he going to murder again? A hand opens the door, it is not his, it is different and fine; voices are fighting, it is there and shouts. A gentle voice reaches my ears, she says to me: come, do not fear, I will not hurt you!!! I tremble, no, not me, not already, I beg you!!! The hand comes closer, she touches me and I don’t hurt!!!

Why? What do I do? I feel raised from the ground and I land in the arms of a stranger, she has a good smell, she has water that flows from her eyes, just like us!! She talks to me, I think she cries, she Tell me one word: Love!!! I don’t know what that means: I’m a Spanish dog, I don’t know that word!

My friends and siblings start screaming, they want to go with us, but he gives them kicks, throws them against the walls, their bones crack… I don’t want to leave them, no, take them With me, don’t leave them there, please! He screams that I will be the only one, that others can still serve, that she will have to come back and the price will not be the same. She’s crying, but she doesn’t dare answer that bastard who mutile us and kills us.

We arrive in the light of day, she always cries and talks to me: don’t be afraid, it’s over, I’m sorry for your friends, I’ll come back for them, but he won’t give it to me now, I’m so sorry My God… on the outside, there’s another man waiting for us, I’ve never seen him, he’s getting close to us and getting between him and my Savior. He says, ” good enough! We leave but we’ll come back for the others, don’t kill them, we’ll come back and we’ll do it. I get in a car, always in her arms, I pee on it, I wet her pants, she laughs and says: it doesn’t matter, it’s all over for you, she approaches her lips from my snout and touches me She says it’s a kiss. I keep shaking, I don’t get it, I want to go back with the others… she says I love you?

I went into a house for the first time in my life, no paper, no trash on the floor, it smells weird but I like it… she gives me a bowl: Oh! Meat!!!! I eat so fast that I throw up everything, I start to moan about terror, but she picks up and tells me: we start again. She takes other pieces of meat one by one with her hand and gives it to me. SHE WAITS 5 minutes between each end, so I’m starting to calm down slowly. She still takes me in her arms, she puts me on a very sweet thing, she says it’s a couch with my cover, that I have to sleep and forget…

Today it has been 6 months since I live with Concepción and Javier, I have never been hungry or thirsty again; every day I go out on a leash, and they are proud of me, show me to passers-by and tell them: it is A Galgo, he is young and he is so sweet and affectionate; not everyone believes them, of course. I learned that we had to wait for the needs, that we could ask for caresses, drive crazy in a garden, run even without rabbit, just for fun, jump into a human bed and roll under the sheets…. I’ve learned so many things, but where are my friends, I’ve never forgotten them. We have to get them, please.

This morning a lady has arrived, she has a funny accent when she speaks Spanish, she tells my human friends that she will send photos and give me my news, but why? She attaches my leash to my necklace and tells me to follow her, that I’ll be fine, that another family awaits me very far. I don’t want to, my family is here, we have to go get my friends, I’m struggling, Concepción is crying, telling me to get in the car, Javier’s chin is shaking but his hand is very strong: you have to leave and leave the place to another: we will never forget you, little man! After many hours of car, I arrive in another garden, there were children who had not to move so as not to frighten me. I sat on my butt for a good time and then I started exploring the terrain, both legs followed me anxiously.

Is he going to get used to his foster family in Spain?

And here I AM NOW 3 years old, I’m happy, I’m full of holes in the garden, I doze in the sun, I sleep in a basket near the radiator in winter and I even have a coat and vitamins…

But at night, I wake up and I remember my friends, I hear their screams from tortured, they call me, ask me to come and get them. Help me, please.

Text from Virginia terranimalia.viva.over-blog.com