The plight of the Guam Greyhounds goes on, with greyhound rescue associations desperately trying to deal with the problem of the mass abandonment of these beautiful dogs after closure of the Guam Greyhound Racetrack.
For an update on the current situation, check out www.guamgreyhounds.org and ABC News
Through my passion for greyhounds/galgos and subsequent involvement in publicising the plight of the galgos in Spain, I have been introduced to the Podenco, a smaller dog used in Spain and the Spanish Islands for hunting rabbit. Whilst they are not abandoned each year in such huge numbers as the galgos, the life of a podenco runs parallel in many ways.
Through Galgo News I have met Lynne Fisher and Jackie Kennedy, who live on Lanzarote and are very involved with the SARA animal shelter and raising awareness of the problems faced by the podencos there. What you will read here also applies to the life of a podenco on mainland Spain too.
In the past year, I have been lucky enough to foster and rehome 2 delightful podencas, and have also adopted one of my own. Like the greyhound/galgo, they make wonderful pets.
What is a podenco?
It is easy to forget that, apart from the mass of mainland Spain, there are also groups of islands in the Mediterranean and Atlantic which are also under Spanish rule, and whose animals also suffer maltreatment at the hands of the native Spanish.
I previously highlighted a problem on Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, where many people to on holiday to take advantage of the winter sun. But behind the scenes, life for the islands animals is, on the whole, horrific. However, there are a few brave souls who work to improve conditions and speak up for those who have no one else to speak on their behalf.
Lynne Fisher, from the Sara Animal Shelter on Lanzarote, has sent me the latest news.
It always amazes me where Galgo News reaches. Here is a message I just received from Larisa in Slovenia.
Dear all at Galgo News!
Thank you for being there, thank you that we can read about all helping galgos and greyhounds. We do our best to help them too.
On 9th February, Galgos 112 were one of the participants in the Spanish TV programme ‘Spain Directo’, broadcast by First of TVE from 17.50-20.00. The programme gave refuges and rescue associations the chance to talk about the reality of life for a galgo at the close of the hunting season. The participants are very grateful for this opportunity. It is only by publicity like this that the Spanish people will realise what goes on in their country ‘behind the scenes’, and that the rest of the world abhors it.
Don’t Forget to Sign the Petition, Send an Email – don’t let them close down the Refuge Arca de Noe at Cordoba! The animals and the volunteers need all your help.
I have received the following appeal from Mme Catherine Madry, founder of Levriers en Detresse.
‘Do you know any American groups or British who could help us to build a kennel, a Greyhound Adoption Centre? I found a good place but can’t pay on my own : 100 000 euros.
It’s not far from La Charité -sur -Loire in Pouilly- sur -Loire. I have all the certificates of the Ministry of Agriculture to do it, all we need is money to create it.
Castille La Mancha is a bad region if you are a galgo. And even worse if you are abandoned. News in from Galgos sin Fronteras of two abandoned galgos which were eventually saved.
At the beginning of February, two galgos encamped near a house in the middle of nowhere. They were there several days – why were they left this long? Would it have happened if it had been a man? No! So why did it happen to 2 dogs?!
One of them did not move, all that time. The other one fled, as soon as there was any noise.
At last a volunteer came to see what she could do.
So many of you have followed the regular updates on the progress of Karmel’s health, since we first visited the vet with her in April 2008. What killed her?
If you have read ‘About Me’, you’ll know that my passion for greyhounds began over 15 years ago when we lived in rural Suffolk, England, and a stray greyhound turned up at our home. In those days, there wasn’t so much publicity about what good pets a greyhound makes, and so the shelters I contacted said they had too many greyhounds, they didn’t want to take another one.
