A Spanish hunting dog's (Galgos, Podenco...) fate

[msfntor]

A Spanish hunting dog's (Galgos, Podenco...) fate

The plight of the Spanish Galgos: on galgoamigo.com: https://www.galgoamigo.com/the-plight-of-the-spanish-galgos.html

The image ”An adopted Spanish Galgo” by OmarCurrosSimón is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported 

 

Each year, approximately 60,000 Spanish galgos (hunting dogs) are abandoned or tortured to death in Spain, especially in the communities of Castile and Leon, Extremadura and Andalusia.
 
The galgos are primarily used by hunters (galgueros) to hunt hares. The dogs live their lives in atrocious circumstances cramped together in dirty tiny sheds without daylight and possibility to move, ill and on the brink of starvation, deprived of human care and affection. The galgos are often trained by tying them to a motor vehicle forcing them to run at high speed, which often causes them injuries. Before the galgos are used for hunting, they can be starved for days to make them 'better' at hunting.
 
After the end of the hunting season, the hunters get rid of most of their dogs by abandoning them or by destroying them in the most horrendous ways. Massive and uncontrolled overbreeding makes it less costly to buy new galgos each year than to keep the old ones. 
 
By tradition, the dogs are often killed by hanging them by their necks with their feet just touching the ground, swaying back and forth causing the dogs extreme pain and agony for several days until they die. Other traditional ways to murder the dogs are to throw them into abandoned wells covering them with burning wood, beat them with rocks or bury or burn them alive. The hunters believe that the more the dogs suffer, the more successful the following hunting season will be.

The abandoned dogs often die of starvation or injuries, and if they are caught they are mostly brought to municipal killing stations, where they are kept in horrendous conditions and mostly killed after a while. A few are rescued by private shelters where they are rehabilitated after which they have a chance to find a forever home. Unfortunately many Spaniards consider galgos to be unsuitable as companion animals, so most of the galgos are adopted abroad.
 
No EU legislation exists concerning the welfare of dogs, and the Spanish authorities are unwilling to address this matter in any way. In February 2023, a new animal welfare bill was passed in Spain, but hunting dogs were excluded. Without a massive international movement the situation is not likely to change, and these noble, beautiful and gentle dogs are deemed to continue their terrible suffering.

 

Galgo News - Save the Galgo - Stop the suffering: on galgonews.com: https://www.galgonews.com/ 

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Hunting dogs - Spain
 

Galgos, Podencos and other hunting breeds ..... there is only one word in the Spanish hunters vocabulary about hunting dogs ..... TOOLS ..... this is a hidden widespread and culturally inherited cruelty that many tourists and Western Europeans do not know about.

The Spanish hunting dogs live their entire lives on the brink of starvation, unstimulated, in cramped dark spaces or are tied in short chains - isolated places in hidden rural areas is typical location. Hardly any human contact and no affection.The Spanish hunting dogs seen only as a useful tool that can be replaced and discarded when no longer needed. Galgos, Podencos and other hunting dogs in Spain is used as disposable tools. 

Between hunting season, the dogs are living in very poor conditions and living barely at the brink of starvation. The food consists mostly of old food from restaurants or bakeries, often moldy bread that is given once a week. 

Cruel superstitions and old traditions are still very common in Spain and the hunters trying to convince themselves that the dogs hunt better when they're starved. The dogs are neglected and rarely receive veterinary care. Many dogs do not survive this gross neglect but starve/dehydrate slowly to death or die of untreated disease, injuries or severe tick infestation. 

It is also very common that dogs are killed after a finished hunting season by being hung in trees or drowned in wells, shot or left behind .....abandoned. This is dogs that the hunter (owner) no longer have use for. They may be old, sick or hunting bad. This cruelty continues year in and year out without the Spanish government doing anything to stop it. Many hunters who gets caught in the act, get no penalties. 

Other typical tourist countries where this occurs are in France and Portugal.

Dogs that are discarded by Spanish hunters each year - can be counted in tens of thousands.

MORE: https://www.esdaw.eu/hunting-dogs---spain.html

 

- So what are you thinking about?

[msfntor]

"No EU legislation exists concerning the welfare of dogs, and the Spanish authorities are unwilling to address this matter in any way. In February 2023, a new animal welfare bill was passed in Spain, but hunting dogs were excluded. Without a massive international movement the situation is not likely to change, and these noble, beautiful and gentle dogs are deemed to continue their terrible suffering."