For those of you who live far afield and have not visited Spain, or for those of you who have visited Southern Spain in search of sun,sangria and sea, this is a story of the REAL Spain.
Driving back from Spain to France along the E05 towards San Sebastien, we stopped off at a petrol/parking/grill centre, literally just at the side of the motorway. The parking was busy with cars and a few lorries.
We parked close to a car where there were 4/5 20-somethings - rasta hair,revolting low-slung jeans (who the devil wants to look at their pink bum cheeks!) - and tatty clothes.
Remember the Andrex advert and the golden labrador puppies? Well, imagine one of those but with long curly fluffy hair, BUT THE SAME SMALL SIZE.
So, these 20-somethings have this puppy, no collar or lead. It is wandering around, not knowing what to do with itself, who to go to. It goes under a car, next to a lorry.
Oh, what a caring male - he goes on knees around the car looking for the puppy!
By this time, there are probably more than a dozen Spaniards, male and female, watching all this. Think of someone with a remote control car, and people stand around watching what the car does.
Only this is a sentient being, a tiny puppy - no strings to pull, no battery to run out. And they all think it is funny!
We approached and asked and gesticulated - because we speak only about a dozen Spanish words between us - if the puppy was with them or lost.
They said it was theirs - these 20-somethings who cared enough about the puppy to put a collar on it, and a lead!
We were so enraged and also felt so impotent - because none of the 4 of us had command of the Spanish language to save the puppy, as we had left one of our Spanish friends behind in Madrid, and we were meeting the other two at the border! Yet we had 21 dogs in our vehicles which we WERE saving!
We are all sad, but there was nothing we could do, because we do not have enough command of the Spanish language to go in there and save the poor little puppy.
This is the attitude and mentality of the Spanish with which we have to deal to help the galgos. And not just the galgos, but the bulls and the donkeys who suffer sickening pain and injuries by these same Spaniards who think a 4-month old puppy loose in a busy car park at the side of a motorway is funny.
This is my blog - I can say what I like! Don't anyone tell me the Spanish are nice, and that Spain is a beautiful country!
I have experienced none of these things on any of my visits to that country.
And I still curse every galguero, because those who claim they are good ones do nothing about controlling the indiscriminate breeding and disposal of the dogs at the end of the hunting season, and those bad ones who mete out such horrendous suffering. I curse every single one of them to a life of suffering like they inflict on their dogs!
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