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.
She looked for a shelter where she could help these dogs, who have nothing and who desperately need a helping, caring hand.
She visited many shelters, which gave her an all round view of the terrible animal protection situation, or more accurately lack of animal protection, in Spain.
A few years ago, she persuaded her husband to let her adopt a galgo, she wanted a white one, although she hadn’t actually seen one. But her husband did not let her down, and arrived home with, in her words, “something stinky in his arms, with no hair, an apparent mange, full of wounds, so skinny and the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen… and he was BLACK !"
"From that moment on I fell in love with this helpless and terrified creature. I bathed him and felt terribly sad while I was caressing his mistreated and starved body, and I decided I had to do something. Not only for my beloved galgo, but also for many others who were out there in the same condition”.
She found Perrikus, a small shelter in the middle of nowhere in the mountains outside Madrid. Their capacity is only for max. 25 dogs and “we are normally so full, that we also have to keep them in a garage.
"The shelter has no means of support, the cages are quite simple and there are few volunteers, but the few people there, do a great job and above all, love their hairy companions and care about them. We always try our best”.
Cristina finds lost galgos, be they in municipal pounds, abandoned, injured at the roadside, and takes them back to Perrikus. She works tirelessly to rehabilitate and restore the dogs to reasonable health so that they can be found forever homes outside Spain. She works with the rescue associations, like L’Europe des Levriers, and very much needs our support.
She is an amazing lady, I have the utmost admiration for her and the work she does.
Name of the shelter A.D.A. SIERRA NORTE PERRIKUS
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