As some of you may know, Cesar Millan adopted a galgo from Galgos 112. At the same time, he worked on a series of television programmes to highlight the plight of abandoned dogs in Spain. This is the link to see the article, and below is a translation.
The famous trainer of dogs César Millán, known in Spain for his dog programmes, will return next Friday (2 December 2011) to the prime time on Channel 4 with the release of the Leader of the Pack.
This is ZP, a 9 month old Podenco Canario. He’s in the SARA Protectora refuge on Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Unless adopted on mainland Europe, he is destined to spend the rest of his life in the shelter. Read on.
SARA Protectora is the refuge on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. They take in dogs and cats – and the difficulty is rehoming them – very limited on the islands. Here is a guide as to the costs involved in rescuing a dog or cat.
Greyhounds Rescue Holland have sent the following information.
‘Just after 12 o’clock on 13/10/2011, GRH received a call from the Liotard team that the Written Declaration on Dog Population Management has been supported by more than half of the Members of the European Parliament. Many volunteers across Europe, amongst whom GRH, have lobbied with their MEP’s to get their support.
This Written Declaration asks for Members States to adopt comprehensive dog population management strategies and anti-cruelty laws, with the aim to harmonise animal welfare standards across the European Union. This marks a significant shift to developing EU legislation in this matter.’
Read more here.
One of the most important tools to use in the fight against animal cruelty in Spain – and everywhere else, of course – is educating the younger generations. Many individual associations have their own programmes for doing this – talks in schools and youth centres, visits to refuges, hands-on caring for dogs in ‘out-of-school’ time. Greyhounds In Need have been working on an Education Programme which will shortly be available to associations. Read about it here – wait till the scroll box reaches the heading ‘Our Work In Spain’.
Those of you who have read my book will have been introduced to Lucho, an amazing survivor of the Spanish holocaust, adopted by Chris in the US from Scooby Medina. He developed leptospirosis and Chris kindly wrote a case history about her experiences with Lucho and beating the disease.
Earlier this year, Lucho developed Leishmania. Even though he tested negative before leaving Spain, the disease can lie dormant and poor Lucho succumbed. Chris shares her experience here.
In August 2011, a case of canine rabies was notified to the French Veterinary Services. A French family from the Vendee travelled to Morocco on holiday, and whilst there, they ‘adopted’ a stray 3-month old puppy, which they illegally imported to France.
The puppy presented behavioural changes on 1 August and was admitted to a veterinary clinic on 6 August. It died the following day and the body was shortly sent to the national reference centre where rabies was laboratory-confirmed on 11 August. Contact tracing and post-exposure treatment were initiated immediately
Read the full story here and a further article discussing the need for anti-rabies injections.
Here’s a fascinating story from Aanifeira, an animal rescue association in Portugal. Dogs feel the suffering of human beings, especially those who they recognize as their owners? Drs. Karine Silva and Liliana de Sousa, two researchers from the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Porto, Portugal consider that they do, but underline a lack of experimental studies and scientific discussion. Read on.
This virtual demo has been set up by Barbara LeFranc of Le Bulletin des Levriers, to demand the banning of hunting with galgos. Not sure how it works, see Barbara’s comment below. It’s in French, but don’t let that stop you voting if you want to.
Besides being dog owners, many of you will be like me and be horse owners – or at least horse riders at local stables. Did you know hoof oil (Effol) is poisonous? It apparently contains cyanide (because of the laurel content). I’ve just been sent a tale about a dog who decided to taste some Effol, and the effects and the action to take is something we all need to know. This is their story.
‘The galga got hold of the bottom of a jar of hoof oil (Effol) and ended up in the vet surgery. We were all terrified as this awful tar was coming out both ends. She had a temperature of 39.8 – at 40 a dog can die. The vet gave her a vital injection to make her sick and put her on a drip because the tar was coming out both ends – mouth and bottom – and the dog could end up dehydrated.
I’ve received this emailfrom Gran Canaria. Please can any associations who have time, respond to the writer.
HI My name is Jovita, I´m a member and volunteer with two NGO related to animals: AUXILIOANIMAL.ORG AND ADOPTAUNAAMIGOENGRANCANARIA.ORG. We are trying to find information about abandoned galgos in Spain and the situation now.
