HOW TO REPORT A SUSPECTED CASE OF ANIMAL CRUELTY
August 2011
There are increasing numbers of animal cruelty cases and people who come across them, often don’t know how to make an official complaint (denuncia) to the police. Seprona, the environmental arm of the Guardia Civil, has given the Costa Animal Society this set of guidelines on what to do.
Great news for people travelling dogs between UK and the rest of Europe. From January 2012 DEFRA will bring their rules of entry into the UK, whereby a dog only needs to wait for 21 days after their rabies vaccination, rather than have a blood test and then wait 6 months. Read more about it here
Great news! There is now an officially recognised vaccine against Leishmania, for use in European Union countries. Read about it here.
Podencos are totally different characters from galgos – who like nothing better than to curl up on a comfy sofa and sleep! Podencos are working dogs and therefore can make marvellous agility dogs. Here are some videos of podencos in agility, and also a Pharoah Hound, a similar breed.
These videos have to be one of the best reasons to adopt one of these deserving dogs. You can find dozens of them waiting for forever homes and maybe an agility competitor in the weblinks in Podenco Pals. Or check out the list of podenco rescue associations listed.
I've fostered quite a few podencos, mostly the rough-haired type, from mainland Spain. One of the most beautiful stories is that of Estrella. In December 2009 I posted a picture on Galgo News of 3 galgas and a podenca in a cell in the killing station in Jaen. Rescue of the 3 galgas was arranged but somehow the podenca was overlooked. I received an appeal from across the ocean in Canada – the podenca is still in Jaen, can you get her out?
So the wheels were speedily set in motion and the podenca was rescued and taken to a refuge. An association with whom I work closely, L'Europe des Levriers, then agreed to help get the podenca from Jaen to Madrid, from where I could collect her, along with other galgos we were bringing out to France for rehoming. So there we were, at the beginning of February 2010, meeting up with Estrella – as the podenca had been named – to bring her home to foster.
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.
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
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
