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Music. I can't make you love me by Candy
Dulffer
Hi Josephine
I wanted to thank you and your organisation
but even more importantly the wonderful people who support
“Greyhounds in Need” and do whatever they can for your work to be
able to continue.
The Belgian people are making a huge
difference to the pain, suffering and agony of local dogs by
inviting these amazing creatures into their homes. Let us hope that
the wonderful people in your country will continue to help you and
us down here is Spain, so that more dogs like those with you today
can be saved.
Only last week we went to our local killing
centre in Murcia to rescue three galgos who my friend who lives
locally told us, were waiting to be killed.
When we arrived there, the first thing that
hit us was the stench coming from the centre. The smell of death was
in the air, along with the smell of faeces and urine.
We arrived very early in the morning and had
caught them off guard so we were able to walk around the entire
centre before we were stopped.
We were horrified to see that the two galgos
that were left were sharing a kennel of 2 meters by 1.5 meters with
6 other dogs! There was a cross x marked on the kennel, we could
only guess what that meant. The dogs inside were in an absolutely
disgusting state all the fur was covered in faeces and urine from
the floor where some found a space to lie down. They could only lie
between the piles of dog poo which they were all stepping in before
lying down once again.
Sadly we were too late for one of them as the
third Galgo was absent, but at least we got the other two out Zoe
and Wallace. We could hardly recognise these poor dogs as Galgos as
they looked so dark and matched the colour of the concrete base.
We were told to step away from the kennel and
were ushered into a waiting room so we were unable to witness any
more distressing scenes. We were asked what we wanted and we told
them we wanted to see if they had any Galgos. After a short delay he
confirmed that there were two dogs there. One was Wallace a
2-year-old brown male and the other was ZOE a stunning silver
female. These were the two we had already seen in the kennel with 6
other dogs.
They removed the dogs from the kennel and
marched them by the scruff of the neck to another room where they
were given a Leishmania test and then a rabies jab and a micro chip.
We collected the dogs 30 minutes later and
both were very frightened and scared of what might happen next.
Covered in fleas, dog poo and pee, the journey home was very
unpleasant for us. We then spent over an hour just cleaning them.
These are two of the most gorgeous dogs with very gentle and placid
natures,
Three days later my colleague who visits the
pound regularly went to collect a beagle.
He went with his girlfriend who works with him
in the business of pet transport to Germany. He saves as many dogs
as he can from their pound. He told me that on the day of the rescue
of the Beagle, he stood and watched for nearly an hour from a
concealed point watching dog after dog being killed.
The vets helper goes to the kennel opens the
door grabs the dog by the back of the neck and pulls him out he then
holds him by the front legs and lifted him up until only his back
legs are on the ground. Then the vet (we assume it is a vet) takes
the syringe and delivers a lethal injection straight into the heart
of the dog.
What followed was the worst part of the
experience for any dog lover while for several minutes the dog
writhes around the floor in agony screaming as the poison begins to
take effect. The duration of the poor dog’s agony was dependant on
whether the injection had been delivered accurately into the heart
or part of the lung. If the lung had been caught the agony was
prolonged in one case up to 15 minutes!
This act was no less barbaric that witnessing
a dogfight to the death, but at least in a fight one of the dogs
has a chance to walk away. HERE NO DOGS WILL EVER WALK AWAY.
In Spain they are a number of rules and
regulations about animal care and welfare but rarely are these
checked, policed or adhered too. I asked my vet for the specific law
in respect of euthanasia and the law was perfectly clear in that any
dog that has to be killed must first be anethsatised in order to
ensure that the dog is unconscious before administering the
injection.
The situation in Spain is barely any different
with regard to the abuse of their animals than it was 200 hundred
years ago. The only difference is the paper that the laws are
written on; which pretend to protect the welfare of these poor
animals.
I wanted to highlight this problem for your
meeting today so the thoughts and prayers of all those people
gathered with you, can join together in silent prayer that one day
things will change in this cruel country.
In the mean time can I once again thank
Greyhounds in need for saving the lives of hundreds of these
magnificent animals, and the people of Belgium for their adoptions
for allowing this to happen.
Noah’s arc in Spain is proud and honoured to
be associated with you all
God bless you all in Belgium
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