Last weekend in both Leipzig and Mainz in Germany hundreds of people and dogs were marching to ban hunting with galgos and podencos in Spain.
Category: Regional news
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Marching in Germany for the galgos and podencos
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URGENT – protect the dogs of Los Infiernos Protectora, Lorca – send a letter now!
This is tragic. Please send an email even if you aren’t an animal person. Read to the end for the email addresses.I’ve asked for a Spanish translation and as soon as it is available I will publish here. Maybe best to write in Spanish.
From Los Infiernos Protectora Supporters
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Dear Lorca Town Hall ( Ayuntamiento de Lorca )I am one of the volunteers at Los Infiernos Protectora and have been volunteering with the dogs there for eight years now, not as long as some people, but it’s been a while. I’ve seen volunteers come and go. It happens, it’s not for everyone. I can honestly say, the volunteer group we have now is the very best team we have ever had. We have people working so hard in the background, it’s not all about showing up and walking the dogs and feeding the cats, although we are very good and dedicated in doing that.
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Protectora Scooby – summer newsletter – Animal Rescue Transitions To ‘Bureaucrazy’
Fermin writes.
As many of you know, the Scooby shelter grew organically from doing the best we could with limited resources and still
making tangible improvements for our rescued animals, nursing them back from the brink to overcome sickness and
adversity to become dogs and cats well enough to go to loving adoption families. Yes we had tragedies but our small team
shared the work and helped the animals to a better life. I still remember a volunteer vet from Scotland, in the twilight of his
career, telling me to welcome volunteer vets but crucially to make sure they had solid experience because in a ‘field’
medical setting, she said we’d need people who were skilled to work with what’s available, rather than the early career medical professionals who would not yet be ready to work in a situation needing ingenuity and technical resourcefulness. I still remember this vet stitching by candlelight when we were blighted with power cuts. -
Protectora Scooby – summer newsletter – Dogs bred for fighting
Dogs Bred For Fighting – The TragedyIt pains me every day when I Iook at our incarcerated dogs bred traditionally for fighting, the ‘dangerous’ dogs, the so-called ‘bullies’. There are no formally banned dog breeds in Spain. There are restrictions on owning some of these breed types in Spain (muzzles and on-leash in public places are mandatory). We have more than 60 of these dogs in the Scooby shelter, including around 9 Belgian Malinois who can be very dangerous in inexperienced hands. We cannot home these 60, even if there were a demand for them. We have investigated the possibility of transferring them to fit and proper owners in countries where they can be lawfully kept and exempt from euthanasia if they don’t pose any risk to public safety.
However, this is a strategy thwarted with problems and risks, and would add to the rescue crisis overseas. This is not our intention. Under our animal laws here in Spain, we cannot consider a kind course of action for these dogs to find them peace because euthanasia of dogs without a veterinary second opinion is illegal. These dogs would not meet the permissible legislative standard.
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Protectora Scooby – summer newsletter – Declining Adoptions, Rescues & Donations
From Fermin.‘We collaborate with 10 – 15 partners internationally who help us fromtime to time to home our rescued dogs and cats in their countries. This is much needed because it is impossible for us to home dogs and cats in significant number in Spain. Shelters like ours cannot operate without international adoptions.
We, like our adoption artners and fellow shelters around the globe, are witnessing a decline in home offers. We have noticed this trend over the years since 2019/20 and attributed it to the many pets homed during the COVID period. But it is a continuing trajectory and we suspect there may be more to it than a simple glut. It is now so acute that we cannot rescue as many dogs and cats as in prior years or indeed those now in adversity because our refuge is at capacity. It is simple if we don’t move dogs and cats to families, we will not have accommodation space for those in need of rescue.
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All about Canicross with your hound
Canicross is becoming a very popular sport between owner and hound.
Read all about it in this article.
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Podenca Gaia – lost her babies, dumped in a Fuerteventura perrera!
The approximately 3-year-old Podenco dog has had to go through everything in her life.Gaia and her babies were rescued by an animal welfare colleague in Fuerteventura. The owner was a hunter and dumped the babies in a hole in the ground so that Mama Gaia couldn’t get to her babies (videos about this in the comments). He said he didn’t want them anymore, the babies aren’t Podenco’s but mixed breeds, that’s what he said. The puppies have now all been adopted, but Gaia is still in the Perrera!!️
Gaia is very social with all the dogs, she even takes care of newly arrived abandoned babies. Gaia is still very cautious and reserved with people, and needs some time to trust new people. The stressful environment takes a lot out of the beautiful dog and we hope that she will soon have the chance to be with experienced and loving people. A quiet environment would probably make a big difference for Gaia and she could learn at her own pace , to let go, to gain trust, and to enjoy life on the sunny side.
Would you like to give Gaia a home? Click here to apply. Simply click on the link below.
https://sandohelp.de/tier
Your team of sando e. V. – Rescue A Soul
Donation account
Volksbank Bielefeld – Gütersloh eG
IBAN: DE654786001251018575800
PayPal: info@sandohelp.de -
Protectora Scooby – costs of running a shelter
From Fermin – Scooby Shelter Running Costs: VeterinaryWe have a number of running costs to keep the Scooby shelter perational and thought it would be worth focussing on different
internal cost groups to demonstrate how much we rely on your donations and how we spend the money you give us. In this
newsletter we highlight our veterinary costs.We are fortunate to have our onsite clinic and our own vets. Our vets are salaried and we can present them with most of the medical conditions we come across as well as all of our spays and castrations. Sometimes we have to refer veterinary work to specialists or off-site vets but generally we rely on the skill of our Scooby vets.
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Protectora Scooby – summer newsletter – A Bad Law
A Bad LawWe continue to operate our rescue in the context of the very bad legislative amendment enacted in 2023. A new and very ambitious update to the animal welfare law in Spain was passed in January 2022. The law itself includes training for dog owners, penalties for animal cruelty, prohibition of puppy farming and sales of pets in pet shops. All of this is totally laudable and
necessary. However, the PSOE Party (Spanish Socialist Workers), the senior partner in the coalition government, subsequently proposed an amendment to the law to exclude hunting, working and guarding dogs. The amendment was approved in 2023. Commentators say the PSOE initiated the amendment fearing reactions from rural voters. -
Foster a Podenco for Hope for Podencos
If you can’t afford to adopt but have room for a podenco in your home, why not consider fostering.Hope for Podencos have some which are available for foster till they find their forever homes.
‘We need your help!
On our recent trip to Spain, we forged a partnership with the wonderful SOS Animales Salobrena and have taken a number of podencos in their care under our wing as HFP dogs. Sadly, our new partners have been met with several sets of tragic circumstances including the death of one of their founders, a situation very close to our own hearts, and need to drastically reduce the number of dogs in their care in order to be able to continue their fight.