3/11/2016

A charity clean-up and start-up

Dear all, 

Last week a group of Greyhound Compassion volunteers spent a few days at the Scooby shelter to help the Scooby team. The intake of galgos peaks in the first three months of the year as the galgueros discard their galgos at the end of the annual coursing season.  The shelter was full to the brim because an average of 40 galgos a week had been rescued in the first two months of this year.

We set to work on cleaning up in the paddocks and kennels, not to mention the odd cuddle for a rescued puppy along the way and sensitive touch for the nervous galgos pressing themselves into the kennel wall because they couldn’t yet face human interaction.

There were the usual piles of laundry of bedding and towels which the Pam and Ruth gradually worked through.  The bedding, coat and towel store had become a jumbled mountain in recent weeks making it impossible for the Scooby workers to find towels and blankets quickly.  We established a human chain gang sorting the mound into accessible piles on the available shelving.  

Naturally we fell in love with many of the residents whose appealing eyes became completely irresistible.  To name just a couple of the many, Amelio was so sweet and endearing and Austin gently welcomed us into his pen each day.  Numerous galgos were seen to be embracing Olivia, one of the volunteers, as she cuddled them in between cleaning.  They were simply hanging from her shoulders and gently nuzzling her ear.

We had a charity first for Medina del Campo where Scooby is located.  Scooby has been given the use of an empty shop for a small rent and one of our volunteers, Ellie, converted it into the town’s first every charity shop. She spent the first few days sorting the existing stock and making space for donated goods sent for sale.  By the end of our stay, the Scooby sign was over the door and the shop had a doggie corner, bric a brac shelves, baskets of goodies for children and a space cleared for donated fashion items.  This is a ground-breaking initiative for Medina and we hope it will be a success but we’ll have to wait and see.  If it works, this could be a good source of income for the rescued animals at Scooby.  The first few steps bode well.  Before Ellie left on the last morning, she had a few customers who had come in with their dogs adopted from Scooby, a galgo among them, to do some shopping and promising to spread the word amongst their friends.  Let’s hope they’ll be keen to bag a bargain for a good cause!