Galgo News

Happy May Day 2008

On behalf of the San Anton Refuge.

Donations can be sent to the treasurer:
Fam. E.H. van Poelwijck
De Aalscholver 4
7702 AE Dedemsvaart
The Netherlands

Website: Spaansehonden.com/

Organising a dog walk in France

If you would like to organise a fundraising dog walk, don’t be put off by the paperwork! You know what the French are like, bless them. I think I put the cat among the pigeons when I decided to organise my walk for the International Day of the Dog.

If we had just been people walking, or riding bikes, or horses, they had forms to cover that! It was also the fact that I didn’t know how many dogs would be present. But I sorted through the paperwork and the bureaucracy and then, relaxing afterwards with a welcome glass of wine, I realised that some of the demands made were actually quite sensible.

Photographs from the galgo walk

Dogs and owners get ready for the off

Here is a collection of photographs from the walk marking the International Day of the Dog which took place in the village of Celles-sur-Belle in southern Deux-Sevres.

Is there no end to their agony?

So... the sadness continues for the Spanish Galgos. Charl del Rio tells the tale of Noche.

It never ceases to amaze me how much a galo has to suffer and continues to endure, unless they reach the relative safety of a refuge. It is nothing a human would endure without giving in and complaining, or giving up totally. All galgos, when rescued, show gratefulness as only a galgo knows how.

This is the story of Noche, a galga who has endured immense suffering.

This is the night where her life was turned around and she found hands to cure her wounded body.

A couple of the lucky ones

Brenda and Sara happily rehomed together, and settling into their forever home. Enjoy the rest of your lives, girls!

Needing Forever Homes

Two galgos looking for forever homes.

Yanis was found in Toledo, she is about 18 months old.

She is very intelligent and caring, good with cats, adores children especially sm all children.

Good in the car, housetrained, sterilised, vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and her blood analysis is negative.

Email: adopciones@degalgos.org

And the second is this beautiful galgo belonging to a lady who has lost her home, and has to give away her three dogs.

If you can help, contact Nancy at Segundamano.es

Great day for the Galgo Walk

The sun shone brightly on the village of Celles-sur-Belle in southern Deux-Sevres on Sunday, the 3rd International Day of the Dog.

Over 50 walkers, and more than 70 dogs assembled in the car park opposite the Abbaye Royale, to enjoy a 5 km ramble along tracks lined with bluebells and primroses (click thumbnail right for larger image).

Many people had brought a picnic lunch, and a raffle was held in the afternoon.

Over 900 euros was raised for the funds of L'Europe des Levriers, which paid for the rehabilitation and vets fees for 6 galgos at Alpha Dog World with April and Paul Carrier. The day was judged a great success, with demands to repeat it again next year.

Related article: A gaggle of Galgos comes to town

Photographs from the galgo walk

International Day of the Dog - A gaggle of Galgos comes to town

The International Day of the Dog....April 27th, 2008. It is an event worth celebrating, and more importantly, worth using to further the cause of the Galgos, those poor Spanish greyhounds whose lives are a million miles away from the happy, comfortable lives of most of our pet dogs, writes Joanna Simm.

PETA on the Latin American 'artist'.....

This is a recent communication from PETA on the subject of the starving dog in a Latin American art gallery.

'This is what I learned from my colleague about this very disturbing incident, which is just awful. It's been several months since these allegations first surfaced - we looked into it at the time and we are keeping a close eye on this monster.

Jan - needs your help

Jan is a galgo. He has suffered horrendously. Amongst other injuries, he had a nail in his head. He is about 10 years old. 10 years of living a life of hell as a Spanish galgo.

He has been save by the association Degalgos. They are a small association, the volunteers pay for everything from their own pockets.

Jan needs help, as he is in specialist neuro care, which will cost thousands of euros. Degalgos never usually ask for help, but this time they are asking for economic help to pay for Jan's care.

You can read about Jan and the other dogs which suffered with him on GalgoMania

It is in English as well as Spanish.

International Day of the Dog - 27th April

I think I've covered everything! Permission from the Maire in Celles-sur-Belle for the dog walk. Permission from the Prefecture in Niort for the dog walk! Gendarmes (police), sapeur pompiers (paramedic firemen) and a local vet all standing by! There's more to organising a fund-raising dog walk in France than ever there was in the UK!

With over 40 people walking over 60 dogs, all we want is the sunshine. Should be a great day.

Animalaid about the 'artist' and the starving dog.

Charl del Rio received this reply from the Animal Aid charity, in respect of the email which has been circulating about the 'artist' and starving dog in Latin America.

Dear Charlotte,

Thank you for sending us this email - we do share your anger. We have known about this 'artist' for some time (the exhibition with the dog was held last year) but it remains unclear what actually happened.

Charlotte writes...

The Plight of the Spanish Galgo continues: Read the latest letter from Charl del Rio about the work in Spain, France and other European countries as well as the USA now the hunting season has closed.

Appeal from Cristina de Luna

Cristina de Luna is a volunteer withPerrikus, a refuge north of Madrid. I met Cristina when I visited the refuge last July when I took part in a rescue with L'Europe des Levriers.

It's a small refuge, well organised, with room for 30 dogs. At the moment the shelter is totally full. And they have 18 galgos for adoption, waiting to be taken out of Spain as soon as possible.

If you can help, contact Cristina direct on misaluk@gmail.com and L'Europe des Levriers.

The Perrikus website is in Spanish and German, while Cristina speaks excellent English. There is also an English language section on L'Europe des Levriers.

Bosco - stolen by the gypsies!

Ines is a volunteer with the refuge Perrikus at Madrid. Bosco was her galgo. This is her story.

When I heard the news, my blood turned cold. Bosco had been stolen by the gypsies. It doesn't bear thinking about, kept in a cage, maltreated.

How can we bear to think of her beloved galgo in the hands of the gypsies. It is agony. Where does she begin to search?

Bosco was a difficult galgo, very difficult. He was very aggressive with other dogs and also with humans.

Those who know galgos well said he had suffered terribly from maltreatment, to become so aggressive, because a galgo has a gentle, affectionate temperament, not rebellious at all.

Chucked out and left to drown...

This is Agua, named because she was found in a canal of water with her babies, watching two drown.

She is recovering in foster care and its seen that this is the first time she has received love, food and attention.
She walks well on the lead and is a calm quiet dog.

If anyone can help her find her forever home, please contact www.degalgos.org or myself.

Charl del Rio http://112carlotagalgos.blogspot.com

A reminder.... And update

A reminder that the vile man claiming to be an artist is still planning on taking a dog off the street, chaining it to a wall in a studio, and starving it to death, like he did last year.

Sign the on-line petition, and here are the email address and website of the art gallery where the artist murdered the dog in Costa Rica 2007 in the name of art!

info@madc.ac.cr
Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo - Inicio

CHECK OUT this link for an update on this http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/starved.htm I have written to HSI for more information and confirmation of what they say.

Petition for the Galgos from SOS Levriers

A plea from Kathi Backes of SOS Levriers for as many people as possible to sign their on-line petition before 31st March 2009.

Kathi says, 'Our last petition (17 000 signatures) was sent to the Spanish Minister of Environment. I think things in Spain are moving, and it is helped by these signatures by the thousands which come from people all over Europe! When we receive an answer, I will put it on our webpage, so all visitors can read it and see it!

We need to continue to work against those atrocities in all ways and one of these is our petition, this time to the President of the Parliament, Mr Zapatero. If we do nothing, nothing will change! So we need to take every opportunity to put pressure on the politicians who can change the laws!'

Stop the physical and mental cruelty against Galgos and Podencos in Spain

More on the San Anton refuge

Further to the appeal on behalf of the San Anton Refuge, the secretary of the fundraising association has sent the following.

"Thank you for the donation from your friend. We plan to re-decorate our small office, to make sure that in future this will be our room for medical treatments only, next to supplies we keep there like medicines and food.

So if you can mention that we wish to raise support and money for this decoration (like tiles for the floor, which will be more easy to clean and a table for treatments) that would be wonderful.

A tale of a little podenco

This is a Malagueno Podenco from Andalucia. She is about the size of a Yorkshire Terrier. In other words, tiny!

She was found, terrified and injured, on a motorway near Seville. Luckily a young Spanish woman, a volunteer at the Sofía El Refugio Escuela refuge, stopped her car, and managed to catch the traumatized dog. She had an injury to a hind leg, open wounds on her body, and was starving.

She named the little dog Bebe, which means 'born again'.

Homes found

Always nice to report on forever homes found, so here we catch up with some of the dogs that have featured on the site in the past.

Yor has gone to a lovely home with a lady who lives in the Aude.

He shares a sofa with Barney, a saluki cross and Jack, a large collie.

Adonis has gone to live with an adopted galgo Pye, his look-alike.

Pruna has found a home near La Rochelle, little Noa is also adopted, and Colate has gone to a French family near Paris, who have an adopted greyhound.

The two dogs saved from hanging, Innocente and Noel, have also found forever homes, where they will never again experience the horror of 'The Pianist'.

And Shamia, the Azawakh, now has a fabulous new life in Greece. The adopting family have a great deal of experience with the breed and are very excited about welcoming her into their country home.

Helping the Galgos

Association Galgos was founded in June 2007.

It's a Danish organisation, and they are passionate about helping the galgos and podencos of Spain, in whatever way they can.

Pia Ogilvie says 'Our goal is to inform about the poor situation for the galgos and podencos in Spain, to support the shelters in Spain and provide homes for galgos and podencos. We can't promise that we'll arrange a lot of adoptions, but we can promise, that we'll do our very best in trying.'

In the News

Weekly Telegraph have this week published a short article about Paul and April Carrier, of Alpha Dog World, plus the appeal by them for help for the San Anton refuge at Willamartin. Here is the link to read it:

Every dog has his day at Spanish centre

Can you help a pointer?

While everyone is saturated with dogs coming in thick and fast it is always hard to add another to the case of abandoned dogs.

However I have been contacted by someone who has rescued a pointer, brecan aleman aprox. 1 year old female who had been left lying on the road.

They took her to the vet and she had a broken leg, probably knocked down.

She has been left with a limp but is doing very well. She is great with kids and other dogs cats, and understands the command NO. She is not a big dog and is in need of a forever home.

If anyone can help please contact Helen directly on the phone number or email below. They cannot keep her but hope to look for someone who can give her the love she deserves.

helen7alan@hotmail.co.uk

Don't forget

...to buy your cards and raise money for the galgos.

Offer only applies for the month of April: Arts et Cartes

ONE YEAR ON.....

If you’ve read ‘About Me’, you’ll know my passion for greyhounds began many years ago in Suffolk. My passion for galgos, the Spanish greyhound, began just a year ago.

I didn’t realise what a journey I would be embarking upon.

I hadn’t heard about the hanging dogs. I didn’t know what a podenco was. I had no idea of the scale of the problem in the dog refuges in Spain, and of the valiant volunteers who work tirelessly under extremely difficult circumstances, to save the dogs the galguerros (Spanish hunters) dispose of like a cigarette end.

One year on, there are not enough words to describe how I now feel.