In the 9 years since I first became involved in the plight of the galgos and podencos, hundreds of thousands more people now know of their maltreatment and suffering at the hands of the Galgueros.
New associations have formed and thousands of these fabulous hounds have found forever homes.
With the advent of publicity on Facebook, there have been worrying developments as even more people have become involved in ‘saving’ them, and not all working truthfully and within the law. I always advocate adopting a dog from a recognised rescue association. These hounds have already been rescued from a ‘kill station’, abandonment in the campo, injured on roads. Costs have been incurred in medical treatment and preparing pet passports, blood tests and castration before the animals are homed. These are the dogs which are ready for adoption.
Too many people now scream on facebook ‘the dog will die soon, donate to save it’! Some of these dogs are old, some are already sick, none have been blood tested, character assessed…and in a few cases this appeal to the emotions is a way of obtaining money which is not used to rescue the dog. Some perreras have a No Kill policy yet this is not mentioned when these appeals are posted on facebook.
Another worrying development is that dogs are now being imported to the UK without using TRACES. DEFRA introduced this method to prevent sick dogs without pet passports being transported – yet it is happening. I and others are aware of how these illegal transports get round the TRACES and border control. One result of this is that an adoptant finds their pet suddenly becomes ill and dies.
So I would repeat – do not donate to appeals to save a dog being killed! Donate to reputable associations to help dogs already saved – these are the dogs to be adopted.
Do not give in to emotional blackmail!
Comments
2 responses to “Do not give in to Emotional Blackmail!”
I agree with you and although these appeals really can be upsetting, I now only give to reputable rescues. I asked if you could publicise a dog recently, Polo, who has been in the pound for nearly five years. The difference here I believe is that each dog is character assessed, medically assessed, home checks given and back up provided by a reputable charity, ‘Spanish Stray Dogs’. So what happens, you ‘rescue’ a dog that is sick and dies shortly after being rescued, yet there are healthy character assessed dogs just wasting their life away in rescues for years and years. I think that this is irresponsible and where is the support for the rescues? These people are dedicating their lives to rescue and rehabilitate. Why aren’t people supporting the rescues, people who know what they are doing? So to name a few, there is Polo and Nino, Spanish Stray Dogs, three and four years apiece on a concrete floor in a concrete cell. Bill and Ben, Ismael and Ital, four years apiece at Pepis. What about Woody the greyhound, eight years old and he has spent all of his life in a trainer’s kennel, he is with Essex Greyhound Rescue. All of these dogs are character assessed, vet checked, neutered, appropriate documents, home checked and back up. Why is no one desperate to “get them out of there” but no they will waste their life away behind bars. I have even paid Polo’s travel costs to generate some interest but clearly his case doesn’t appear ‘desperate’ enough.
Well said, Kathryn. And it’s because there are so many fabulous deserving hounds in rescue shelters who wait for ever for a home that I don’t publicise perrera dogs here. A very rare exception would be one in a No Kill station. There’s been a situation on facebook recently of someone screaming ‘this dog will be killed’ when the podenco was actually in a refuge! And they never mention if the perrera has a No Kill policy, which several of them have. Some people maybe feel good that they have ‘saved a dog from being killed’. The truth of the matter is that they have convicted another dog in a refuge to probably the rest of its life there. What’s good about that? Which dog should have been adopted first?