Here’s a message from Cobie, a Dutch volunteer who has travelled to Spain to help at the Scooby Medina refuge.
‘Scooby saved some 75 galgos from the area around Sevilla. A few weeks ago they went picking up some 25 galgos, Last Wednesday another 37 of which you can see the pictures and tomorrow (Tuesday) another 25 are being picked up by Scooby. They come from everywhere, taken from the streets, from gypsy camps, from perreras, also from the bloody perrera from Mairena.
This is a diabolical situation which has been ongoing for two or three days. Volunteers are working like mad to save these dogs.
A volunteer writes. ‘Am writing to ask for help. I know everyone is saturated with dogs and right now, with the hunting season in full swing, every week we find more and more dogs. But I had to send this appeal.
It’s a case in Seville in a shanty area. There are gypsies with many compounds made of metal where they put hundreds of dogs, above all galgos and podencos waiting to be tried by the gypsies as to if they can be used for hunting. Those that can are sold to the galgueros. The others they kill. They rent these places for months and have to pay the head of the gypsy hierarchy.
Betty’s Original are purveyors of natural dog food which is wheat, gluten and dairy free and is particularly good for rescue dogs, who have very often been abandoned and had to scavenge for whatever they can find to stay alive.
I’m pleased to say they have kindly offered a special reduced price deal to readers of Galgo News whereby if you order dog food through them, you can nominate it to be delivered to either Tina Solera, Perros del Sol at Los Infiernos Refuge, who has rescued dozens of abandoned galgos during the course of the last 12 months, or Charl del Rio, who has three or four dogs in kennels until they are adopted.
All you need to do is click on this link to the Betty’s Original site and you will see the two rescue centres you can help.
Click on either of the two boxes, Perros del Sol for Tina or 112 Carlota Galgos for Charl. Then click on ‘My Account’ and create an account.
It is as easy as that! Betty’s will then contact your nominated person and find out what food they desperately need at that particular point in time. You can pay either by credit card or Paypal. Any problems, email Betty’s Original direct.
Check out this YouTube slide show of a walk through Milan on Sunday, 17th October, to publicise the galgos and greys. Shame it rained on them, but I love the waterproof coats, especially the blue one with legs!
The story of the Galgo Espanol is spreading further afield, and one of the newer associations involved in rehoming galgos is in the Czech Republic. Here is the latest news from them.
‘Hello Beryl,
It has been already a while since we sent you our last e-mail. In the mean time we were very busy, there are more happy endings and more happy dogs in families now. You can take look at their pictures here:
or the same in English
Pro-Galgo have some wonderful T-shirts for sale, to raise funds for the galgos and podencos in their care. Have a look at them on the website, with details of sizes and ordering.
Just received this picture from a lovely French couple who were thrilled to have a dog show to which they could take their crossbreed dog and enter some classes. They clamoured for a repeat of the show next year – he’s even offered to bring his Unusual Poultry – Buff Orpington etc. I said, OK as long as they are in cages and well protected from hunting dogs! Bruce and Dielette are on the left, Anji and I are on the right with Sahara. Judge Stephen Moon is in the centre in the blue shirt.
Last weekend, Scooby Holland held their annual ScoobyDay and here’s the link to view the pictures.
It says that the day was a great succes, the weather was fine (with only a couple of showers) and there were lots of dogs. Furthermore there were shops with all kinds of things to buy for the dogs, for the benefit of Scooby and other Galgo organisations.
There was a joint walk in Soestduinen, a wonderful area where sighthounds can run free and Fermín Perez was present for a chat and if you wanted he would pose for a picture. There were also other volunteers from Scooby present for everybody to meet and talk to. So it was a wonderful happening.
Look at the faces of these people. They are the Junta in Andalucia. They have just passed a law allowing galgos to be run beside motorbikes, to train them for galgo racing! Below is a letter which El Refugio Escuela have put together. Please copy it and email to the address given. I have asked for a postal address too, as we all know that email addresses can be blocked.
We have to let these people know that this is NOT acceptable. Please support this campaign.
In support of Charl del Rio’s annual Fiesta des Galgos, held at the beginning of December, I organised my Fete des Galgos in France on 12th September (the weather’s better than in December!) and GRIN in America organised their Fiesta des Galgos picnic on 19th September. You can already see the pix of my Fun Dog Show for the event, and here’s a few pix of the American event. Check out Mr & Mrs Spain – it could only happen in America, bless them! As a result of this event, GRIN were able to send donations to help Silvia in Valencia pay for the veterinary treatment for the galgos and podencos in her care.
