Spanish holidays - Spanish people - it's a Third World Country!

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!

Comments

[MO SWATEK]

beryl,
your article is an insult towards all the wonderfull people in spain who work and live for the animals and towards all the milliones of petowners who love and care fort their pets.
and dont forget, you live in a country where there is also bullfighting and hunting and french perreras arn't any better than spanish ones, they elminiate the unwanted dogs.
and sorry to remind you but the greyhoundproblem in the UK is also still there and nobody would badmouth all the english for it.

as a journalist i would have expected a more objective information about a wonderfull country with wounderfull people with a certain animal problem.

best wishes

mo swatek
www.pro-galgo-international.org

[Beryl Brennan]

Hi Mo

Youre the one who calls Spain a Third World Countryand a Banana Republic!

I agree with what you say about France - I find the way the French just abandon their dogs in June an absolute disgrace,go on holiday for 2 months - and then they come back in September and adopt a puppy. And of course I agree about the greyhound problem in the UK, I was involved with rescued greyhounds there.

And I basically get very worked up about all animal cruelty all over the world. But my focus, as you know, is on the plight of the galgos and podencos and if I can make an iota of improvement to their situation, that will be good - at least a hell of a lot more people in the world now know about the problem in Spain, through my publicity.

I never had the desire to visit Spain, but friends persuaded me to visit their home in Murcia in 1993; I did not like the country nor the people then. And the more I visit Spain, the less I like it.The only people I like there so far are the ones I have met at the shelters and refuges I have visited.

I somehow get the idea you are cross with me!

Never mind, at the end of the day we are both singing from the same hymn sheet - for the dogs.

Beryl

[MO SWATEK]

dear Beryl,
of course its a banana republic but still there are many beautifull people adopting IN spain our dogs. And withouth their help and support no shelters would survive. Most of the spanish shelters are fully supported by local people, local members of spanish nationality. And without their spanish volunteers, not one shelter could function the way they do.
The galgos and podencos saved in spain are saved by mostly spanish people and for example PRO-GALGO's collaboration with shelters run by spanish animalists has been until now much more successfull than the few times we tried to collaborate with shelters run by foreigners.

Not all spanish hate or mistreat dogs and spanish TV channels show more and more programms dedicated to pets, incl. Cesar Millan or a program called PELO PICO PATAS, all about pets.
the problem here is that the judges are mostly elderly men and probably hunters... most of the reported cases therefore get dismissed. so people who mistreat or neglect animals can do it witouth fearing any leagal problems but still the society does not approve them!
galgo hugs
mo

[Beryl Brennan]


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Dear Mo

I do love the fact that you have the time, in your
very busy life, to still comment on Galgo News. You know
Ialwaysapplaud the Spanish associations, shelters and volunteers, I
try so often to pay tribute to them, battling against the odds to cope with the
massacre/holocaust - call it what one may - every year. I just have so
much admiration for them.

But on Cesar Milan I will disagree with you.
He used those vile metal collars which, when pressure is put on, stick metal
needles into a dogs neck. Ok, so they may have a use in professional
hands, but I saw him on TV advising an American couple - new dog owners - to use
one and, since then, he is wiped off my slate! Sometimes these TV
personalities forget who could be watching the programme and just might try what
they suggest. I know, Ive worked in TV and Radio! Those collars
have been banned in the UK. Not to say that some sick bastard wont use
one on the quiet.

Hey, youve stuck something on Facebook again, and
Im getting a load of c... emails which arent in English and I really dont
want them. Can you do the remove again, please.

Galgo licks and bless you for all you and your
association does for the innocents of Spain, especially at this time of
year.

Beryl

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/

http://www.galgonews.com
Helping to make
a difference

A person who has never known a dogs love has
missed a wonderful part of life. Bob Barker

The dog has no ambition, no self-interest, no
desire for vengeance, no fear other than that of displeasing.
Count of Buffon

[Beryl Brennan]


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Oh, yes, just forgot another point you
mention. Galgos adopted in Spain. Could be a great idea. But I
know of one lady whose dog was stolen from her enclosed courtyard; then a
couple of weeks later she was approached by a man...........he had her
dog. You pay me 300 euros or your dog will die. What was she to
do. The dog had obviously suffered whilst out of her hands. And
another person; complaint made against the galgo - for being aggressive!!!
Galgo aggressive? And, besides galgos missing in France, Spanish
association websites mention galgos missing in Spain after being
rehomed...............my dogs never go out of my courtyard without a harness
on. At the end of the day, they are still hunting dogs.

And foreign run shelters do have their place.
Britons are returning to the UK and dumping their dogs.One of the reasons
they leave Spain from certain areas is because they are victims of the land
grab as a result of the corrupt Spanish. And the shelters are also suffering,
because the Britons are leaving, and so the shelters do not have so many
helpers, nor people to raise funds for them. And at the end of the day,
the Brits are amongst the best at raising funds for charities.

One of my dogs was stolen last summer - not a galgo
or podenco - and I would pay almost anything I could afford to get her
back. So the thieving Spaniards (mainly males no doubt) are on a winner
there, when they steal the galgos rehomed in Spain.

Education, control of breeding, enforcement of
animal welfare laws - that is the only route to go.

Beryl

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/

http://www.galgonews.com
Helping to make
a difference

A person who has never known a dogs love has
missed a wonderful part of life. Bob Barker

The dog has no ambition, no self-interest, no
desire for vengeance, no fear other than that of displeasing.
Count of Buffon

[John]

Hi.

You both are too much generalizing, and Spain is not a banana republic

I´m an American living in Spain.

No wonde anyone can´t stand arrogant fussy brit people like you.

Have a nice day.

[Beryl Brennan]


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Bonjour

So, you are American, live in Spain and therefore
know all there is to know about the country! Well, you certainly
dont.Frankly, your comment illustrates your ignorance.

I have travelleda large part of Spain, passed
throughswathes of countryside, by hideous towns full of apartment blocks
and sky high cranes - the interior is simply a huge building site - probably
paid for with EU money to which Great Britain has contributed far more than
other European countries. Ive visited historic cities, seaside resorts,
urbanizations - Ive yet to find something to recommend Spain to me, apart from
the wonderful people who try and protect Spains animals. And then there
are the Spanish who delight in celebrating fiestas - many of which involve
unspeakable cruelty to innocent animals - bull fighting, again inflicting
horrendous pain on an animal which is tortured even more if it tries to attack
its attacker - the matador. There are hundreds of thousands of Spaniards
who abhor the cruelty many of their countrymen inflict on animals, and there is
a groundswell of voices speaking out against those in authority who have the
power to do something about it.

I suggest you broaden your horizons in Spain, learn
about day to day life there and accept that the people who call Spain a Third
World Country, a Banana Republic, are people who actually live there - I simply
report what they say.

One more thing, I suggest you also take English
lessons.

Beryl

[John]

Dear Beryl, you should have lived in countries like Mexico, Peru or Morocco to acknowledge what is a true third world country. I live here since 2001 and i have crossed the peninsula several times. I know their idiom and their idiosincracy. My best friends are spanish. Trust me if i say that i know this country and its habitants , apparently, way better than you.

Spaniards have (unlike brits) a huge sense of self-criticism and they charge fiercely against all what they don´t like about their country -specially politics-, sometimes even exaggerating the reality to achieve a bigger social impact, and despiting the fact that corruption actually exists, just like everywhere else. On the other hand, Spain have some of the most advanced social policies and freedom of speech in the whole EU.

You can find similar flaws in the United States -and even worst, since the crime rate in the USA is even higher, and we still have the death penalty- and you won´t dare to call us a third world country. Thats why your rants, although justified, reach here a childish height.

"Ive visited historic cities, seaside resorts,
urbanizations - Ive yet to find something to recommend Spain to me, apart from
the wonderful people who try and protect Spains animals. "

And you dare to call me ignorant...? Spain is the country with most Unesco world heritage sites in Europe, after Italy. If this country have something to recommend and to be admired, is precisely its historical heritage!

I fear you are somewhat blinded and biased for what you have experienced, and i don´t doubt it should be terrible.

What happens with galgos -and bullfighting- is absolutely lame, and i hate it, but there´s enough people fighting for their abolishment -including me- that blame the entire country for it is kinda unacceptable. And it would be the same if you insult my native country for what i have mentioned before.

Have a nice day.

[Beryl Brennan]


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Well,as I said before, you obviously know it
all.

Well settle on keeping our own views, just know
that there are far more people reading Galgo News who agree with me. You
are in the minority.

End of storyline.

Beryl

[John]

Yeah, the world is filled wih a lot of ignorance, shamefully.

I´m disappointed. That´s all what you have to say? well, good night then, and good luck.

[[email protected]]

Si ser un país abierto al mundo, que recibe millones de turistas al año, que destaca por su oferta cultural y natural, que es escogido por miles de personas de otros países para fijar su residencia aqui permanente, que se involucra, através de un nutrido voluntariado en causas de todo tipo, protección a los animales, ecología, solidariedad,..., que tiene leyes avanzadas y acordes a la realidad en que vivimos (cosa que no pasa en todas partes)que mejoran la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos y que penan el maltrato animal severamente, que es referente internacional en cocina de diseño, que logra importantes méritos en el mundo del deporte, que cuenta con prestigiosas instituciones educativas, y que alberga una riqueza y complejidad histórica y cultural tan fabulosa, si eso es ser un país terecer mundista, entonces....SI. Somos tercer mundistas! y muy orgullosos!!

[Beryl Brennan]


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Amities

Beryl

http://www.galgonews.com
Helping to make
a difference

A person who has never known a dogs love has
missed a wonderful part of life. Bob Barker

The dog has no ambition, no self-interest, no
desire for vengeance, no fear other than that of displeasing.
Count of Buffon

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/
Read
about life in Deux-Sevres

[Beryl Brennan]


TypePad HTML Email

Hola

Bien dicho, y no
estoy de acuerdo. España está llena de la cultura antigua, como sus
iglesias y palacios históricos, lleno de obras de arte. Mi hijo y una hija en el amor la ley de España y su
gente. Los turistas a ver los hermosos lugares, por el sol y
las playas. Lo que no veo es la pobreza del interior, y detrás de
la ostentación y el brillo. Lo que no veo es el salvajismo de lo que es, de hecho,
endogámica en la minoría de las personas que reciben gran placer de infligir
terribles torturas y la crueldad con animales en el nombre de la religión,
tradición, entretenimiento.

Y son esas cosas que dar a España con tan mala
reputación y es esto lo que estamos tryng para dar a conocer al mundo.
El pueblo español que he conocido y con quienes trabajo
son maravillosos y el cariño. Los gitanos y
los galgueros no lo son.

Y es el presidente de una de las mayores organizaciones
internacionales galgo de rescate, que vive en España, que lo llama un Tercer
Mundo.

Gracias por leer y comentar noticias
Galgo.

Beryl

http://www.galgonews.com
Helping to make
a difference

A person who has never known a dogs love has
missed a wonderful part of life. Bob Barker

The dog has no ambition, no self-interest, no
desire for vengeance, no fear other than that of displeasing.
Count of Buffon

http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/deuxsevres/
Read
about life in Deux-Sevres

[mi-amor-mi-galgo]

Encontre un perro abandonado hoy. Mi llamo la policía y el mi dicho poner el perro detrás en el camino. España no es iguales los países norte europeos. Usted necesita viajar el mundo y usted verá que atras Espana esta. Poner detras en caretera???...., madre mia, que ridiculo. Sin verguenza!