www.gogalgo.org

The above picture is deeply shocking; it distressed me terribly to see it, as I am sure it does you. But after careful consideration I decided to use it to show you what is done to dogs thousands of times a year in rural Spain. And you can help change this by signing my petition.

The picture shows a Galgo suffering a slow and painful death by hanging - a traditional and favoured method employed by hunters- they enjoy the spectacle, and refer to it as ‘piano playing’ or ‘typewriting’; this is because the dog is constantly pawing the ground to try to stop itself from choking. If you go on holiday to rural Spain at the end of the hunting season you and your family could easily come across a horrible sight such as this.

Widespread ritual killings of many thousands of Spanish Greyhounds (Galgos) take place every year. The barbaric treatment of these trusting and gentle dogs is illegal under Spanish law in all but two regions of Spain (which in itself is appalling for a country that is part of the European Union) yet it is still allowed to continue. So far the Spanish government has turned a blind eye to their plight.

Each hunter can start the season with as many as thirty dogs. It is estimated that up to 50,000 dogs are ritually killed - hanged, shot, poisoned or abandoned every year; the number is so high because the hunters dispose of any dogs that have failed to hunt well for them, and it is viewed as important to kill the dog in an ‘original’ or ‘amusing’ way. Unbelievably sick but sadly true. If you doubt it just google 'treatment of Spanish Galgos'  or go to this link http://www.scoobymedina.org/en/about_us/hanging_horror.html 

With Spain receiving 8.3 million tourists in August 2013 alone and having now launched a rural tourism programme for 2014 there has never been a better time to highlight the miserable plight of these dogs.

Most people know about bullfighting and have a view on it. But this barbaric practice cannot even be justified as a ‘spectacle’ or ‘entertainment’. And it is illegal, but ignored.

I have had many good holidays in Spain but have decided not to go there again until the Spanish government stops ignoring the situation and starts enforcing their own already existing animal cruelty laws to end this terrible treatment of the Galgo. I hope you decide to sign this petition and boycott Spain as a holiday destination as I have.