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SOS GALGOS ON US NEWS

The Ivanhoe Broadcast News team, specialized in news from around the world, travelled to Barcelona last October and heard about SOS Galgos through the internet, coinciding with the rescue of greyhounds Gilbert and Teo. They were shocked to hear about the cruelty inflicted on the Spanish galgos and decided to do a news report on the subject, viewed by 54 million households on several local tv stations around the US. We hope that the generosity given by Ivanhoe's team Marsha, David, Marjorie, Kim and Sue will lead to a commitment from the Spanish authorities in order to react to this shameful problem for Spain and will mean that more people will help the Spanish greyhounds. 

Watch SOS Galgos on Austin News

PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU CAN HELP US TRANSLATE OUR WEBSITE INTO ENGLISH

SOS GALGOS RECEIVES A WARM WELCOME IN MONACO

SOS GALGOS was guest of honour at the Blessing of the Animals at Monaco Cathedral, an event which takes place every year all round the world in remembrance of St Francis' love of animals

From left to right: Anna Clements, Mireia Costa, Carmen Urbano, Tuscia Cole Triossi, Silvia Puig, Lola Bustillo and the greyhounds Saxa, Yeza y Shira

LUSH HELPS SOS GALGOS

DONATIONS FOR GALGO’S PAIN RELIEF

Merial has kindly donated a quantity of its anti-inflammatory product, Previcox to SOS Galgos. The pharmaceutical company is very aware of galgos’ plight. Many abandoned galgos are found with fractures or chronic injuries and Merial would like help improve the quality of life for these unfortunate dogs by donating this bestselling medication. The main active ingredient firocoxib alleviates chronic ailments with its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, has very few side effects and can be used on a long term basis. Pain relief in senior dogs or dogs with bone or joint injuries is evermore important for their wellbeing and comfort in their senior stage of life.

Any shelters which have elderly galgos or other breeds that could benefit from Previcox can request the medication by sending us an email with the relevant veterinarian’s contact details.   

See "Our 'rescues' from lameness"

OUR FRIENDS IN 'YOU TUBE'

Education in Schools

Pep & Bambi (In Memoriam)

Pepa & Dantxa (In Memoriam)

Rolling & Peter's new life

Greyhound Fascination

Rescue of galgos in Burgos ( Chevalier part 2)

Crowded House - Greyhound dressing room

Sánchez, a lucky greyhound, he was just abandoned...  (Lyrics...)

Walk SOS Galgos in Gijón (Part I)

Walk SOS Galgos in Gijón (Part II)

SOS Galgos (50.000)

In search of an oppotunity

Ara's Story, abandoned while pregnant

Rescue of galgos in Burgos (Maurice & Chevalier) (Lyrics...)

Sweet & Isis' (wmv-2,8 MB)

Sweet in Holand (wmv-3,58MB)

ALL GREYHOUNDS ARE BEAUTIFUL

We have been spending nearly 10 years struggling on behalf of Greyhounds and those brief moments when we can relax or enjoy all the success we have had are scarce. It is the same feeling that you have when inviting your friends for barbecue and during the whole time you are cooking, waiting on your guests, trying to make sure that all goes smoothly and several hours later you become aware that you have hardly had time to talk to your friends or even to taste the food!

Maybe this is due to the fact that we are reaching our limit, where it is difficult  to find generous families or maybe there is such a big number of Galgoss with special needs, but we have the feeling that too many people care more about the colour of the Galgo, its age, the problems the dog may cause instead of how much it has suffered; they do not consider the fact that many of them have never been hugged, neither do they see the fullfilment of giving a home to an animal that has never had the chance to learn to play or to enjoy feeling clean after a bath. (Read more...)

OUR 'RESCUES' FROM LAMENESS

The use and abuse of greyhounds has no bounds. It is all very nice seeing them race and hunt, but if and when they are injured, they are very often abandoned by hunters. And, the worst thing is, by the time they reach the hands of the people who try their best to help them, they often have chronic fractures which may well be infected and can only be treated by top orthopaedic surgeons. Despite the fact many surgeons do help in these cases, the surgery is very expensive and the post-surgical rehabilitation requires experienced volunteers who are prepared to dedicate time and effort to help the galgo regain mobility. (Read more...)

SOS GALGOS RECEIVES THE  

COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD 

It is with great honor for founders of SOS Galgos, Anna Clements and Albert Sordé to have received the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey on September 18th,  for our work in defense of Spanish greyhounds through public education and legislation. 

The Courage of Conscience Award is humbly given out of a desire to promote the causes of peace and justice, non-violence and love. 

The Courage of Conscience Award was first given to Oxfam America and throughout the years personalities such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Muhammad Ali or Mikhail Gorbachev have been recipients of this Award. (Read more...)

     Galgos en USA              Galgos in the USA

8 SPANISH GALGOS IN THE USA 

Last September 16th, 8 Spanish galgos have travelled to the USA, as new ambassadors of the atrocities ans maltreatments that thousands of greyhounds must endure every year in Spain.  Anna Clements, together with volunteer Sonia Martinez and the Spanish artist from Galicia Carmen Ossorio are meeting with friends who help SOS Galgos since its foundation, and are also visiting Spanish galgos who over the years have become 'American citizens'. 

Thank you very much to those who have made this trip possible, specially Delta Airlines and those who have made donations to cover part of the expenses of the trip, and also to the volunteers who have fostered these fortunate greyhounds and have taken them to Barcelona airport forming part of such a wonderful team. 

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  Galgos in the USA

Greyhound hangings in Murcia

Civil guard identifies and reports presumed perpetrator of the hanging of 2 greyhounds in the surroundings of Cehegín (Murcia)

 A formal complaint was filed by ANPBA to SEPRONA

The National association for the protection and welfare for animals  (ANPBA), made an important step forward regarding the report filed  of two hanged galgos in a piece of land in the province of Murcia last August. 

In many parts of Spain there is a horrific tradition of hanging galgos when they are no longer useful to their owners and only recently has it been possible to  legally persue these happenings. 

There is another tradition in Spain which is to not report cruelty inflicted upon animals since this takes time, courage and the will to confront the passiveness and the delay with which the authorities react before these happenings. Even so, Spain carries on evolving and there is an increasing number of people willing to break this vicious circle: thanks to ANPBA, to the  SEPRONA police agents and to all the people who don't need a reason to act.  Let's hope that the horrible way in which these two galgos die don't go unseen by the law and that increasingly more 'criminals' receive the punishment they deserve, for the animals' sake and of those people around them.  (Read more...)

ANPBA-agosto05     Let's Stop Cruelty to Animals

Warning!: extremely graphic and disturbing pictures

SWEET, PLAYS HAPPILY IN HOLLAND

Sweet was a withdrawn and timid galga, found abandoned in Seville and rescued by volunteers of the Buen Amigo animal shelter in the town of Los Palacios in the province of Seville in the south of Spain. The Buen amigo shelter is a place where its volunteers do the impossible for their animals to get adopted, considering the few volunteers there are. But what they do have plenty of is strong will to do their best for them. Sweet was one of them and thanks to Maria Luisa's communative skills, left there at the end of August to go to Emi's home. Emi is part of SOS Galgos' board of directors and is a veterinarian, who took Sweet to the airport to go to her new forever family in Holland. A big huge thanks to Greyhound Rescue Holland, and very specially to Mieke Saanen and Sandra Baas for their extraordinary efforts to rehome so many galgos from Spain to live so well in Holland and for their very professional style.  
As you will see in the following video below which her forever family made in Holland, Sweet has never been so happy.  Her companion Isis, can hardly catch up with her whilst they play but they still have a great time. Sweet is one of the few galgos that smiles. Few people know about this curiosity and could misinterpret it for agressiveness, but the truth is that the galgo is one of the few breeds that can smile and Sweet now has a reason to do so. 

See video: 'Sweet & Isis' (wmv-2,8 MB)

See video:'Sweet in Holanda' (wmv-3,58MB)

SOS Galgos joined together to celebrate the Greyhound Planet day in rememberance to all the greyhounds and galgos that are suffering around the world. Over 50 rescued galgos met up with their adopters and friends, in the Paseo de Potosí, in front of the Maquinista shopping mall on the afternoon of Saturday September 24th. 

Together, we walked with our galgos along the Besos river, which separates and unites both the city of Barcelona and the town of Santa Coloma, both of which still allow the exploitation and overcrowding of 700 greyhounds in conditions that do not abide by laws for the protection of animals. 

In memory of all the greyhounds and galgos that  weren't there with us, whose fate was and still is to be used and abused and taken advantage of, SOS Galgos' president, Anna Clements, gave a small speech to those present to pay tribute to the many that in Barcelona and lots of other parts of Spain continue to suffer. We each let a balloon go, watching them disappear in the sky in honour of all the greyhouds and galgos and to say that they have rights and we shall be their voices.    (Read more)

FUND RAISING RAFFLE

Congratulations to the raffle winner: KIM BURNETT of St Louis, MO! 

Kim is a great activist towards helping greyhounds in Missouri, and she will receive   the stunning sculpture of Carol Orwin "Born to Run" that 'Northcoast Greyhounds' is honored to offer for the greyhound community, will be drawn next Sunday, July 31. 

Finally $ 4.000 have acumulated and 100% of the proceeds from this raffle will be equally divided between the Celia Cross Trust and SOS Galgos in Spain. Ms. Orwin continues to contribute examples of her work to the Trust to raise funds for less fortunate hounds.
"Born To Run" measures 22" X 16"

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

This important financial help will go towards three galgos's complex operations: Lolita, this beautiful galga was shot twice in the leg by a hunter and is fighting to save her leg from amputation; Donato, who has been limping for over a year, because his owner believes that he'll always find a younger galgo who'll replace those who are injured and who become a 'burden' for him; and Linda, a galga recently rescued in Seville, from a 'municipal animal pick up centre' where after a month they hadn't even paid attention to the two serious injuries to her elbow and carpus that will need two arthrodesis by a traumatologist in Seville, so that she'll at least be able to stand on her leg. 

SOS GALGOS FIRST PHOTO CONTEST

The winning photo, ‘Dog shut away with no food’ illustrates the conditions that a galgo found in Lleida was kept in.  This particular galgos was not able to be rescued despite the intervention of SEPRONA, a travesty that reaffirms the need to continue fighting to protect abused galgos.  (see photos of the contest)

(Translation by Anna Holloway)

PRESS RELEASE

FOR BARCELONA'S RACETRACK'S REGULATION OR CLOSURE

(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 Galgos 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.(Translation by Anna Holloway

  See photos sent by European and Ameriacn 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. 

Print signatures sheet (pdf, 42KB)

NO MORE FIRE BULLS OR BULLS ON A ROPE
IN 21st CENTURY CATALONIA

ANPBA (National Association for the Protection and Welfare of Animals) and SOS Galgos have initiated a campaign to gather signatures among the veterinary community who, like Catalan society, majoritarily rejects cruel traditions with bulls. Our goal is to request the Catalan Parliament to ban once and for all these 'exceptions' to the Catalan Animal Welfare Law. 

It's been made public recently that the Department of Natural Environment of the Catalan Government, which has been working on developing an efficient regulation for Law 22/2003 of Animal Protection in Catalonia, requested a report to Dr. Xavier Manteca, DVM, PhD, Professor of Etology at UAB (Autonomous University of Barcelona), and Master in Applied Animal Behaviour & Animal Welfare of the Edinburgh University, in which he concluded that fire bulls and bulls on a rope do suffer, not only due to anti-natural treatments they are forced to endure but also due to the stress and anguish caused by the noise and crowds of people present in these traditions.

This information (it may seem obvious, but few animal welfare laws in Spain define that animals can suffer psycologically!), together with signatures of a number of veterinary professionals and thousands of citizens of Catalonia, Spain and other parts of the world who support several animal welfare organizations, should be enough of a reason to stop the authorization of cruel traditions with animals in Catalonia for the mere enjoyment of a minority. Catalan society, which majoritarily rejects these traditions, would not understand that the awaited regulation for Law 22/2003 might contradict article 6.2b which already expressely bans that in 'correbous' animals suffer any (physical or psicological) injuries. (Translation by Anna Holloway)

  PRINT SIGNATURES SHEET (pdf, 160kb)

THREE RESCUED GALGOS GO TO  PITTSBURGH

Our friends Marci and David Anderson, of Steel City Greyhounds,  have organized a trip to Europe to rescue three Spanish Galgos,  Anubis, Noel and Morgan. Next Wednesday they will travel to Frankfurt, through France and Germany where they will be staying at animal friendly hotels, and then will fly to America where they will be rehomed in the Pittburgh area. They will therefore be speaking up as new embassadors for the thousands of galgos that are abandoned and maltreated in Spain every year.  

Thank you very much for your generosity, and to the foster families:  Aurèlia (Anubis), Klea (Noel) and Nuria (Morgan)!

Studio photos: Isard Alfonso

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