By Sigrun Hvalvik
ON a chilly January morning a galgo named Luna limped right into a village, her ribs protruding from weeks with out meals. As soon as prized for her velocity throughout the looking season, she had been discarded like an previous software.
Luna’s story will not be distinctive – it’s the destiny of hundreds of galgos. Yearly tens of hundreds of looking canines, primarily galgos and podencos, are deserted or killed in Spain. Whereas these elegant creatures as soon as represented loyalty and velocity, many now face hunger, abuse or worse when the looking season ends.
How can a nation – as wealthy on tradition as Spain permit certainly one of its most iconic canine breeds undergo in silence? What does it say a couple of society when its most loyal companions are discarded the second, they’re not helpful? In Spain, the plight of galgos and podencos raises uncomfortable questions on custom, ethics and progress.
Custom and tradition
Searching with galgos and podencos has been a part of rural Spanish life for hundreds of years. These canines are prized for his or her velocity, stamina and ability, making them important instruments for hunters. Nonetheless, in lots of rural areas animals are nonetheless seen primarily as utilitarian fairly than companions, which shapes how these canines are handled. After the looking season hundreds of galgos and podencos are deemed ineffective or too expensive to maintain. Relatively than rehoming them, they’re usually deserted, uncared for or killed, usually in very brutal methods.
Many hunters breed their very own canines in giant numbers to provide the entire looking companion. This results in an oversupply of canines, and those who don’t meet the specified looking requirements, resulting from age, harm or temperament are discarded. As a result of breeding is so widespread and cheap, it’s usually simpler for hunters to easily breed new canines every year than to look after older ones. This perpetuates a cycle of overbreeding, neglect and abandonment. The cultural mindset right here is tied to custom. Canines are seen as expendable instruments, not lifelong companions. Some traditions embrace horrific practices for disposing of galgos after the looking season.
Hunters abandon canines in distant areas; they hold the Galgos by their necks with their toes barely in a position to contact the bottom. They hold for days earlier than lastly dying of hunger and thirst. Different strategies are throwing canines into holes within the floor with no meals or water, beat or stone them to demise, or tie them in plastic rubbish baggage and bury them alive. Some are deserted within the countryside, usually with stick caught between their jaws to allow them to’t eat or drink, and slowly starve. These merciless acts could be related to a superstition that the following looking season will likely be extra fruitful and is rooted in custom.
In some rural areas there may be resistance to exterior criticism, as it may be seen as an assault on Spanish tradition. Many hunters argue that their use of galgos and podencos is a proud custom, and any criticism of their therapy of the canines is met with defensiveness. This cultural mindset could make it troublesome to implement or strengthen animal welfare legal guidelines, particularly after they problem longstanding practices.
In February 2023, the Spanish authorities accredited a extremely anticipated animal welfare legislation, comparable to regulating the breeding and sale of animals and clarifying the minimal dwelling circumstances wherein it’s authorized to maintain a pet. Nonetheless, looking canines are exempted from these laws. This displays the affect of looking traditions in politics and native governance, the place looking is seen as an essential cultural and financial exercise. If the accountable possession laws that now apply to all canine house owners could be relevant to galgo and podenco house owners as effectively, any abuse or mistreatment could be punishable by fines and maybe jail.
It’s essential to acknowledge that the struggling of galgos and podencos will not be consultant of all hunters or Spaniards. Many people and organizations in Spain are working to deal with this problem, advocating for adjustments in how traditions are practiced and selling moral therapy of those animals. Nonetheless, to completely deal with the issue, it requires difficult cultural norms and providing sensible options that respect custom whereas enhancing animal welfare. This interaction between custom and struggling makes the difficulty significantly advanced but in addition a chance to modernize and evolve longstanding practices.
I’ve been deeply moved by – and engaged in – the plight of galgos and podencos in Spain. On the identical time, I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed by the in depth work that’s finished to enhance their scenario; significantly by the work that’s finished in Spanish shelters to save lots of and rehabilitate these noble and mild canines bodily and heal them emotionally. My look after Spanish looking canines thus, stem from a mix of empathy, shared values, and a way of worldwide accountability for animal welfare.
Listed here are some the reason why I, a Norwegian girl, care about looking canines in Spain, and assist the work finished for them.
- Compassion for animals transcends borders. The struggling og galgos and podencos isn’t only a Spanish problem. It’s a mirrored image of how we, as people, deal with susceptible beings that belongs to us. To acknowledge their ache and advocate for change is an act of solidarity with these unvoiced animals, simply as we might look after mistreated animals in our personal nation.
- In Norway, there’s a sturdy cultural emphasis on animal rights and welfare. Galgos and podencos undergo in ways in which could be thought of unacceptable by Norwegian requirements, comparable to abandonment, neglect, and merciless practices like hanging or hunger. If these values matter at residence, why wouldn’t they matter overseas?
- The challenges confronted by galgos and podencos, overbreeding, abandonment, and neglect aren’t distinctive to Spain. They’re a part of a worldwide drawback in how animals are sometimes handled as disposable commodities. By advocating for these canines, one contributes to a broader motion for moral therapy of animals worldwide.
- For me advocating for and supporting galgos and podencos present a private achievement. I could make a distinction within the lives of susceptible and uncovered creatures.
- Galgos and podencos aren’t simply looking instruments. They’re clever, loyal and loving canines who need to dwell dignified lives. Households who undertake these canines describe them as great pets. By caring and elevating consciousness one can contribute to shift notion of those animals from instruments to valued companions.
Think about a Spain the place galgos and podencos are celebrated not only for their velocity however for his or her lives. A Spain the place each looking canine finds a house after the season ends. This imaginative and prescient is feasible – however provided that we confront the present actuality.
