Here’s another on-line petition for you to sign, and send details on to all your friends.
Don’t be afraid there are no horrific pictures on the petition, those are available through a forewarned link.
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/tortured_spanish_greyhounds
Sonia is a volunteer at the Albergue refuge. Her family did not really care about animals, but Sonia always tried to help the street dogs, feeding them.
She discovered the refuge by accident and began helping there. She also discovered, on the Internet, websites of other refuges and realised she was not alone.
When I see pictures like this, I reflect on the dog rescue centres in the UK. I feel very humble when I think what Caridad copes with every day. What do I have to complain about?
I pray that, especially over the Christmas period when people are celebrating, eating too much, and giving presents other people don’t want, someone will give Caridad a gift for her shelter.
This is Villarobledo refuge, northern Spain. Once there were 104 dogs living here! Now there are 32. The cages are not safe, as you can see.
Two beautiful dogs, being fostered by Cristina de Luna, are looking for forever homes.
Cristina describes Sari, a young galgo bitch.
The galga is very young and has gone through hell (….me too). She was found on the street, run over by a car. She has had four operations. We tried to save her front leg but it has been impossible and it was amputated two weeks ago. We spent a long one and a half months trying every alternative.
When I joined a galgo rescue mission earlier this year, I met Cristina, an amazing lady and one of the incredible people who work ‘on the ground floor’ in Spain, to try and help galgos. Here is her story.
I don’t think those of us living outside Spain can imagine the work Cristina does and the situations she copes with.
Born in Madrid, of German/Spanish, she qualified with a degree in Marketing and Commercial Management. She works in the import of pharmaceutical raw materials, and her passion is her horses, dogs and cats. She grew up with cats rather than dogs, so used to ‘borrow’ the neighbours’ dogs to walk them.
As time went by, she got to know the ‘underworld’ of the galguerros, and the sad life and mistreatment of their galgos.
Wednesdays are my day for doing one of the things I like best, burying my nose in a newspaper. That’s because my copy of the Weekly Telegraph arrives. And I was pleased to see that there was an article by a resident in Spain telling the tale of the arrival of her dog, Cuchi, from a Spanish shelter.
I promise you, I don’t know her – yet – so it’s great that she has got some publicity to further our cause.
Note on my ‘To Do’ list – make contact with her! Here’s the link to read her article.
I’ve just received the following tale of an horrific story, sadly one which occurs far too often in Spain. The story is told in the words of the Spanish volunteer.
Once again it happened…. In our land of famous wines, even better cheeses, and…… land of galgueros!
Yesterday evening (Saturday 15th December) at 21.00 o’clock I got a phone call from the emergency number 112.
Someone had called them because they found a greyhound, still being alive, in the gutter of the highway that was lying there since Friday morning. The dog could not walk.
If you can’t adopt a galgo, what about fostering one. It doesn’t cost much each month, 10 euros, or £7.50. It’s not much to us, but it is worth a lot to the refuges in Spain which rescue galgos and look after them till homes can be found for them abroad.
Sandra Baas, a jewellery designer who lives in Spain, who runs just such a scheme, explains.
Baasgalgo manages protection campaigns for galgos/greyhounds living in refuges or other protective shelters in Spain. Many dogs live in protective associations or refuges for many years, because they are not lucky enough to find ‘forever homes’
Taking good care of these animals consumes a lot of the total available budget. That is why we offer the possibility of financial adoption of a dog. If for some reason you cannot or do not want to adopt a dog in your house, there still is the possibility to help one of those poor creatures in this way.
People who have adopted a galgo from Spain need to check the dog’s passport, if they are considering taking it back to the UK, either for a visit or permanently.
Errors have been found on some passports, notably that the microchip has been done after the rabies vaccination. Also, blood tests have not been carried out to check the level of antibodies.
Information on requirements can be found on the DEFRA website, where this .pdf document is available.
This is what one adoptant says:
Dumbo, a male galgo in the care of Levriers en Detresse Midi Pyrenees, was looking for his forever family. He’d been adopted previously in a home with two french Beaucerons, who unfortunately didn’t accept him, so he was returned to the association.
Luck was in for him, in the form of a lonely female sloughi in need of a canine friend. Dumbo was quite shy at first, but settled in, and was such a success that the family have now adopted more dogs from LEDMP.
To date they have the sloughi, Dumbo the galgo, Shaneh the afghan and Trophe the whippet.
Quite a canine Noah’s ark!
