There are no regulations in Spain to which refuges and shelters have to adhere. Some are a living hell for dogs and cats which have already suffered from maltreatment and abuse. This is a 'coral' in Cordoba where dogs including podencos are starving to death through lack of food and water. When dogs get to this stage, they will even attack and eat each other. There is evidence of this here. El Arca de Noe Cordoba complained about the situation, and the authorities removed the dogs to the local pound. Death awaits them, from lethal injection if they haven't already succumbed to infection and illness before them.
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Starving to death in a coral in Cordoba!
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Zaragoza killing station – podencos desperately needing rescue
The hunting season is now over and hunters are getting rid of their '4-footed tools'!
These are the Perricos to be slaughtered in a few days at the Zaragoza perrera. This is the appeal I received'We are only two volunteers who have many dogs in kennels which we pay the fees and we can't take any more dogs. We have all this responsibility on our shoulders and we desperately need adopters for the dogs in our care, and more so we need special people who can rescue these young podencos before they are sacrificed in a few days.
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SARA Lanzarote – rescuing podencos in the Canary Islands
Through my passion for greyhounds/galgos and subsequent involvement in publicising the plight of the galgos in Spain, I was introduced to the Podenco, used in Spain and the Spanish Islands for hunting rabbit. Whilst they are not abandoned each year in such huge numbers as the galgos, the life of a podenco runs parallel in many ways and they too suffer indescribable cruelty at the hands of the unforgiving hunters.
Through Galgo News I have met a couple of British volunteers who live on Lanzarote and are very involved with the SARA Lanzarote animal shelter and raising awareness of the problems faced by the podencos there. What you will read here also applies to the life of a podenco on mainland Spain too.
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Podencos – victims of Spanish hunters – hear their plea
The following stories have come in showing the unnecessary cruelty which hunters will inflict on their dogs when they are no longer of use nor wanted. The first podenco was the victim of being hung by a steel belt! The old one was abandoned at a petrol filling station, searching for food. The third one – well, you can see the terrible condition, how long had this poor podenco been on the streets of La Cazalla (70km from Seville), with no food. La Linea at Cadiz is one of the shelters which has hundreds of these dogs, all deserving a forever home.
And two tiny podenco puppies in the Seville perrera! If you can help them, contact perrosurgentes@hotmail.com
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Extremadura hunters – Fepaex says ‘Take Responsibility for your Dogs!
Podencos and galgos both suffer unimagineable cruelty at the hands of the Spanish hunters and gitanos – Spanish gypsies. Most publicity comes from the regions of Andalucia and Murcia, as well as the Spanish Islands Ibiza and the Canary Islands. However, the Spanish interior including the region of Extremadura is also hell on earth for galgos and podencos. Here is a report from Fepaex – Federacion de Protectoras de Animales de Extremadura.
THE PROBLEM for HUNTING DOGS in EXTREMADURA = Irresponsible HUNTERS + passive and complicit
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Podencoworld – Profile of its founder, Edwin
Podencoworld is a marvellous website dedicated to publicising this much maltreated breed of Spanish and Portuguese hunting hound. Like the Spanish galgo espanol, they suffer horrendous cruelty and maltreatment at the hands of the Spanish hunters, who show no mercy towards these loyal and affectionate hounds. Here's Edwin's story.
I first came into contact with podencos around five years ago. My cousin's dog was deceased so she was looking for another dog. To help her, I went looking for a puppy over the Internet. I was already searching for quite a while when I found a website from a foundation with Spanish adoption dogs. Soon I got a smile on my face because I saw a dog with disproportionate ears, this was Chica. I liked her instantly, I thought she was totally awesome, every time again was I drawn to her picture and I became happy looking at that crazy little head with floppy ears. -
Euro Group for Animal Welfare – action to protect cats and dogs
The Euro Group for Animal Welfare have just published their monthly bulletin and this includes an article about protecting Europe's companion cats and dogs. Read more.
European Council gives green light for concerted action to protect cats and dogs
At the end of 2010 EU member state representatives voiced their agrrement for joint EU action to protect Europe's cats and dogs through harmonised policy on identification, breeding and trade. They endorsed Council Conclusions on the Welfare of Cats and Dogs put forward by the Belgian Presidency.
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Rick Beauchamp – Podencos from SARA Lanzarote part 2
Here's the story of Rick's trip from the UK to Lanzarote in April 2010.
'Well, we all got back safe and sound around 6am yesterday morning.
The trip was pretty uneventful really, we got to Cologne around 8pm on Monday evening and stayed in a very pleasant little hotel near the station. ( The rooms were on the 4th floor so it’s a good job that the Poddys were’nt being picked up until the next day) The lovely people in the hotel looked after us very well indeed, finding us a free parking space for the night and extending it through the following day until we were ready to leave.
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Rick Beauchamp – Podencos from SARA Lanzarote part 3.
Rick and Lesley Beauchamp are based in Leicestershire in the UK, and each year they travel to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to bring home som Podenco Canarios, whose only hope of a forever life outside the SARA Lanzarote shelter is to be adopted on mainland Europe.
Here Rick talks about the project and the 3 trips he has made so far. What is hidden is the true International co-operation which goes on to bring the dogs to the UK; from them choosing the dogs in Lanzarote to arranging flight partners to take the dogs to Europe; to enlisting help from the German population to meet the dogs at the airports; to the absolute exhaustion that Rick and his friend Daryl submot themselves to over a couple of days.