We are on a family holiday in Andalucia and have rented a lovely villa. The local bike riding is great in the national park with amazing mountain views. What we find very hard to get over is the cruelty to animals here. One of the local farmers here keeps Galgos which are greyhound like hunting dogs. They are just left in a barn in very hot filthy conditions and it seems fed only about every two days! There is also a donkey kept in with them which never seems to be let out. The dogs bark(whelp) constantly. I see on the internet that this treatment is not uncommon . This attitude to animals seems very alien to us for a European country.

It’s pitiful and desperate for many Galgos, Spanish friend of ours rescues them and treats them. I’m in awe of her energy and compassion, cutting hung but living dogs down from trees, rehoming, raising money for surgery, medication fostering, it never stops. If you visit the rescue pages it requires a strong stomach. And then the bull ‘fighting’… it’s easy to blame it on ‘The Spanish’ yet dogs are mistrested/abused here in the UK , just not on such a massive scale.

You’re right, it can be upsetting. I remember seeing horses that had dropped dead from exhaustion pulling carts in the heat in Pakistan. I remember seeing one where the harness was badly fitted so that every time the driver hauled the reins back to stop it, the cart piled into the base of its tail, which was an open festering bleeding wound. Nobody seemed to be bothered.

Have you seen what they do to bulls??

Yes it’s really sad. luckily the bull fighting is not local to us. I do agree the cruelty isn’t just a Spanish thing. There are plenty of UK horror stories too with dog fighters and many other neglect cases.

It’s not generalised, in fact there are groups that do their best to rescue galgos: http://sosgalgos.com/ (for example). But there is a pretty disgusting subculture of killing the dogs when they’re no use for hunting – and sometimes the methods used are a long way from being humane. I’m pretty sure it’s a small minority that do it, rather than all hunters, but it does happen.

I would say the situation is improving, though – a lot of the problems these days are due to lack of money to care for the animals rather than a desire to hurt them.

Yes it’s really sad. luckily the bull fighting is not local to us.

I bet it is, most Spanish villages have a bull ring of some sort.

Thanks Mogrim , just made a donation to those guys you mentioned. Nice to try to help even if it’s small…

It is very sad. Mrs BD is a vet and has been over to Spain, to a couple of different dog shelters, volunteering, spending two weeks at a time solidly neutering stray and rescue dogs, so that they don’t keep breeding and have even more homeless and mistreated animals. There’s a lot of people out there that run similar rescue centres, but they’re always full to overflowing. We’ve literally (10 days ago) just adopted a Spanish Podenco (another common Spanish dog bread, along with the Galgo) and would no doubt have at least one more, if we didn’t live in a little two bedroom flat.

In the UK I don’t think you have to look much further than your local hunt kennel for irresponsible treatment of dogs but anyway…

Pretty much every farmyard here in Pais Vasco has a filthy malnourished dog chained up outside, many of them seem to be fed nothing but bread and I’ve never seen them off the chain.

In the UK I don’t think you have to look much further than your local hunt kennel for irresponsible treatment of dogs but anyway…

Come on, you may disagree with hunting (I know I do), but you have to know that’s BS. The aren’t treated like pets but that’s because they’re not!

Whether I disagree or not is immaterial. I spent nigh on 20 years around foxhunting, so no, I don’t consider it BS.

I spent nigh on 20 years around foxhunting, so no, I don’t consider it BS.

As a sab or are a huntsman?

Near my Dad’s house in Tuscany a farmer has a dog pen with a few mangy dogs in it.

He goes to speak to them on a daily basis, but the farmer doesn’t pay them much attention.

The dogs in the pen have mostly gone, last time I was there, there was just one scared looking beagle who wet himself with excitement when I gave him a tickle through the wire fence.

He lives in a hunting area wild boar and birds, not sure what birds though but there’s a shooting tower that seems to be actively used. I don’t think the dogs are working dogs though, so not really sure why he keeps them.

I quite regularly meet my local hunt pack being walked on the back lanes on my cycle to work.

They look well fed and healthy. I couldn’t see any mangy, skinny ones. Maybe they ain’t treated like pets but I guess they must be treated alright as the kennels have an open day every year (not that I’ve been I really don’t support the hunt).

We had (who is now with my ex) a half saluki halk lurcher who had been tied to a tree by the local travelling community as it was scared of rabbits.
The vet recons with the dehydration it had been there at least 5 days.
He was found by a dog walker who took him to the nearest vet.
This was Harlech.

Edit: hunters do keep their hunting dogs hungry mind or the dog becomes lazy and has no incentive to hunt.