Endangered Dogs Defence and Rescue

‘Greyhounds in Need’ is currently supporting, with veterinary and food costs, approximately 130 rescued galgos, greyhounds and lurchers at home and abroad, who will eventually go for adoption. This is a very heavy daily commitment for us and all our efforts are centred on raising the funds to meet these commitments. 22 galgos are in kennels being cared for in the UK at the moment and 30 more will be arriving here in April.

This the worst time of the year for the galgo (the native greyhound of Spain),being the end of the hunting season, when many thousands, many of them young, are abandoned: we estimate for example, 1000 in the city of Madrid alone. Every day, more heartrending messages, pleas, letters and mails reach me from volunteers in Spain begging us for immediate help before it is too late, to pull galgos off the streets, and out of the hideous ‘perreras’, the killing stations where hundreds of unwanted dogs are herded together in freezing conditions, often starved of water and food and subjected to fights, many with untreated wounds and illnesses and facing a slow agonizing death. It is heartbreaking for those in Spain who see them, unable to help, and they look to us in desperation, as donations from the Spanish public for animals are negligible.

Can you help?

It costs approximately £175 or 250 euros/dollars, and about 6-8 weeks to process one dog from start to finish, with boarding, vaccination, worming, blood testing and sterilisation before exportation and adoption. Less money would contribute to food for a month pending their vet treatment later. We are asking volunteers in Spain to find good, clean, caring kennels, like boarding or breeding kennels where there is space, trained staff and a veterinarian at hand to care for these dogs.

We would endeavour to get photos and names to you of the dogs you would be supporting and eventual news of where they are, in time, adopted later, for example, Belgium Germany, France Holland etc.

If you would like to help, please send your donations payable to ' Greyhounds in Need ' specifying in a covering note that it is for the Galgo Emergency Fund. Internet users can ‘donate on line’ from our website.

Anne Finch
Greyhounds in Need
5, Greenways,
Egham, Surrey
TW20 9PA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1784-436845
Fax: +44 (0) 1784-477490
Website: www.greyhoundsinneed.co.uk
email: anne@greyhoundsinneed.f9.co.uk

To voice your opinions to the relevant authorities in Spain who could effect change, please write politely, and in Spanish, to the following persons. You could use the following model letter, or create your own.

I understand that in the newly reformed Penal Code the mistreatment of domestic animals will become a criminal offence. While welcoming this initiative, I would like to know more about the scope of the proposed legislation.

Will mistreatment include keeping a dog together with dozens of other dogs that are tearing one another to pieces because they are locked in an overcrowded cage in the so-called ‘realas’?

In your opinion, does mistreatment include euthanasing an animal with a substance that produces slow and painful death by suffocation without administering any kind of anaesthetic - even though this is considered unethical and cruel in other countries?

In your opinion, does mistreatment include forcing thousands of dogs employed in sport and hunting to endure harsh conditions, only to be abandoned, hanged or put to death in some equally cruel and brutal manner once they are no longer of use to their owners?

In order to prevent loopholes and ambiguities in the law, the process for reforming the Penal Code should involve animal welfare societies and the new law should be the result of a consensus, as these societies have repeatedly suggested to the Ministry of Justice. The law, or the regulations arising from the law, must define clearly and with no need for further interpretation, the official bodies responsible for ensuring that the law is applied and obeyed and must empower them to take all the necessary steps to do so. These bodies must have the necessary powers to inspect and regulate the way in which animals live and die in dog pounds, refuges and kennel complexes, whether these be public or private property, and to start legal proceedings on their own initiative, without the need for a formal complaint from third parties, in order to ensure that offenders are punished.

I must remind you that Spain has one of the worst records in Europe for animal protection and that countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Switzerland punish the mistreatment of animals with up to one year’s imprisonment.