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!
All that’s needed for the volunteers to complete the construction of the new refuge at Pedro Munoz, Ciudad Real.
Ciudad Real is a city 200 km south of Madrid. I visited the La Bienvenida refuge there in July 2007, to bring out 4 galgos for rehoming in France. I’ve now discovered the town has a second animal refuge, this one in the Pedro Munoz area.
Construction was begun with the support of the Mayor, but it’s only half built because the funding ran out.
Thin, emaciated with shocking burnt paws, a young brindle galga wandered the streets of Seville. A galgo carer, Lola, pulled into the carpark of the local supermarket, and the galga appeared and allowed herself to be stroked.
Returning to her car with food for the dog, Lola, found the dog had disappeared. As she opened the boot of her car to put the shopping in, the galga appeared again, and amazingly jumped into the car. Usually they are too timid and take time to be caught.
Lola took her home and named her Reina. The recuperation process began, worming, de-flea treatments, treatment from the vet for her paws. But danger lurked as she was being walked one day.
Rosa is Spanish and works in Information Technology. She’s one of the unsung heroes who has been helping at the animal shelter of La Bienvenida in Ciudad Real, 200km south of Madrid for over 2 years.
‘My parents taught me to respect and love animals’, she explains, ‘and so I need to do something to change the bad things around me. I can’t change the world, but I can do a little to change the world around me.’
Fostering animals at her home and helping them find a forever home, as well as cleaning at the shelter and taking the dogs for walks, was just the beginning. Then she helped with the injured animals. ‘Finding homes for older dogs and galgos is the most difficult, and I try to find homes out of Spain for them’.
Weathertogs, who make stylish high quality dog coats, with an especially well-designed range for greyhounds/galgos, recently donated a quanity for use in the rescue centres in Northern Spain, where the nights can be very cold for thin-skinned galgos.
Based in Suffolk, UK, the challenge was to get the coats transported at minimum cost!
Responding to a posting on AngloInfo, John Chambers offered to collect them whilst visiting family in Essex, and brought them back to France. A dog lover himself, he said he was very happy just to help.
The coats should soon be winging their way southwards. Thanks to Wendy Amon, proprietor of Weathertogs, for her extremely generous donation.
Any more tales of donations, email me direct.
Radio Val D’Or picked up on the recent rescue of galgos and puppies carried out by L’Europe des Levriers at the beginning of December, and for listeners in the Poitou region, there’s an interview going out today, Thursday and Friday, with Beatrice Monnet, President of EDL, and also ‘yours truly’. I’ve broadcast to the nation in English, but I had to take a minute to consider whether I had enough confidence to speak in French!
Presenter Ginnette Folwell will run the interviews in her programme ‘A Tous Crins’, which is a half hour slot from 1700-1730 on Tuesdays and Fridays, and it will also be run after the 9 am and 6pm news on Thursdays.
I’m delighted with the chance to tell listeners to Radio Val D’Or about the problems for the galgos, and hopefully it will result in more people contacting the rescue associations with offers of help.
Radio Val D’Or, 95.2 FM
A Tous Crins
5-5.30pm Tuesdays and Fridays.
If any of the other associations have media reports, send them on to me now.
