(Barcelona,
Spain) For the first time, representatives of three governing agencies
of the Catalan province – the municipal authorities, the police, and
the Department of the Environment – met together at the City Hall in
the town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, on the outskirts of Barcelona,
with the goal of working together to improve the conditions endured by
the Greyhounds at the dog racing track in Barcelona. More than 700 Irish
Greyhounds are kept [next to the cemetary] there.
The absence of control over the importation of Greyhounds, which are brought in by truck from Ireland, the disgusting conditions in which they are kept in Santa Coloma, and the lack of information about what happens to the dogs when they no longer can race, worries these governmental agencies, SOS Galgos*, as well as the citizens of Catalonia, Spain, and the world.
Henceforward, there will be stricter control over the Greyhounds that are imported for races, both when they are brought to and when they leave the race track. The track will have to prove exactly where each retired dog ends up – whether it is euthanized, sent to hunters for breeding, or given to adoption, and will have to keep a record of the individual receiving the dog.
SOS G
algos
notes that the temperament of
the Greyhound is very suited for life as a pet or companion, and is
pleased that finally these governmental entities are working together
for the welfare of the Greyhounds of Barcelona.
* SOS Galgos – Save Our Spanish Galgos - is a charity working in Spain for the welfare and adoption of Greyhounds.
Photos made by Marcella Zappeij and sent by European and American animal welfare groups, which are very worried about the conditions of importation of Irish greyhounds to Barcelona, for the shelter and exploitation conditions they must endure and for their uncertain retirement.
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