The British have a reputation as animal lovers – considering the number of cruelty cases the RSPCA deal with, that statement is often questioned. But there is no doubt that when Brits move abroad to live, they find it difficult to ignore the plight of abandoned animals – dog, cats, horses, donkeys – and are drawn into helping these innocent abused souls.
This is the story of one such Brit who moved many years ago to live in Spain.
A Spanish volunteer tells her story.
“My name is Carmen and I grew up in a village close to Seville in the South of Spain. I always liked animals (when I was a child I always wanted to have a cat). However, I never got any because “animals are not for homes but for the countryside”. I remember seeing galgueros riding a motorbike and pulling 5 or 6 galgos behind for training. This was a familiar picture, so it looked normal to me. I never asked myself why there were always different galgos from season to season. I cannot remember having wondered about the fate of those galgos I did not see anymore.’
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Some of the galgos in the Villa del Rio are under the care and control of L’Europe des Levriers, the French association with whom I work closely and from whom I have adopted my 3 galgas, plus them helping me get my little Podenca Andaluz Bebe from Seville.
Some of their puppies in one bed died, but there are others – Noche, Jade, Scarlette, Pucca – Cristina, Vice President of EDL, went from Madrid down to Cordoba and brought back some of the dogs, who are now in kennels which need paying for.
Regular readers will know that wherever possible I praise the fantastic volunteers in Spain who give so much of their time and emotional and physical effort in helping the abandoned and mistreated animals, often at great cost to themselves.
So many stories continue to arrive in my Inbox, not just for help for galgos and podencos but other dogs as well. As I speak, efforts are being made by volunteers to catch a family of podencos, other galgos loose on the streets of several towns…..it is never ending.
This story is one example of a week in the life of a volunteer.
Last weekend I treated myself to a weekend away – no lying in the sunshine by the side of a pool for me – rather joining half a dozen more animal lovers at a retreat in the woods of the Limousin region of France, for a weekend of learning to talk with animals! Joanne Hull, known as the Pet Psychic, was the tutor and she made the subject thoroughly fascinating and enjoyable. We students even got to practice too.
This is what Joanne’s website says about ‘talking with animals’.
‘Psychic simply means using your intuition on a telepathic level, animal communication is the SIMPLE ability to listen, which to you and me means to become sensitive, to use our intuition, our gut feeling, giving our minds, hearts and souls the permission to fully experience what an animal sees, feels and senses.
Happy Endings is a new association formed in southern Spain in the Chiclana area. Its founder, Margarita Gloersen is Norwegian and has been rescuing starving and injured dogs in the area for some years. This is their story.
‘My name is Margarita Gloersen from www.happy-ending-final-feliz.eu in Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz.
I have been working with dogs since I arrived Chiclana in 2005. I am from Norway, and when I came I just could not believe my day to day experiences with animals lying in the road, killed by cars and all the others just left to themselves with no chances to survive in the long run. Sooner or later they would become run over by cars, since all the trash bins are alongside the roads.
Photo of Guillermo Couto, professor at the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine, examines Cesca the greyhound on Oct. 11, while another greyhound, Aro, looks on.
Last year I posted about a survey being carried out by Ohio State University into diseases in galgos. I contributed my experience with my galga Karmel and pemphigus foliaceous. Here’s a story by Sarah Pfledderer about Dr Guillermo Couto, whose department carried out the research.
Lisbeth Mønsted Larsen of Greyhound Action Denmark is another tireless campaigner for improving the life of animals. I asked her to tell me how she got involved with helping the greyhounds and galgos.
‘There is not much I can tell you about the galgos adopted throughout Scandinavia. I know people who have adopted galgos and who treat them very well and that the galgos who have found homes here are well looked after. The reason that I can´t say more about that is simply because my involvement with the galgos is more a question of helping them where they are situated in Spain and alerting other people to their plight. I concentrate more on the plight of the racing greyhounds as does my small organisation.
This is a beautiful story of Fermin Perez, the Honorary President of Scooby Medina, and his 6 galgos. Don’t forget there are 600 dogs at Scooby Medina, please help them if you can.
One idea is Virtual Adoption, a bit like sponsoring an animal.
