Dear Scooby Supporters
I
thought I’d let you know how we are doing as we are part way through
the first quarter of 2018, the period when our biggest number of galgos
enter the shelter.
Normally
at Scooby we try to push for change and bring pressure to bear on our
regional politicians to make animal welfare improvements. We
participated in those fantastic anti-hunting with galgo demos that took
place earlier in February in 31 cities in Spain. This is a major step
forward. However, I make no apology on this occasion for appealing for
funds to help us with the annual crisis - the relentless galgo influx. We
have not lost sight of our ultimate aim to improve animal welfare in
Spain but right now we have to contend with food and vet bills for the
massive number of galgos entering our shelter.
If you can help, please donate http://scoobymedina.org/en/donate.html .
You may want to join “our Scooby monthly club” by making a regular
donation to help us pay our bills. We’d be very grateful for a regular
commitment from you to contribute to our ongoing expenses.
This
year has not been too different from any other year in terms of
numbers. The unwanted galgos are streaming in. It is relentless. We
quickly fill up the kennels and enclosures with galgos and then find we
have no space for more but they keep flowing in. If the galgueros don’t
surrender them, the villagers from the surrounding area report
sightings of loose galgos and we go to collect them. The Scooby team
working at the shelter often spot stray galgos near to where they live
or en route to the shelter and we try to catch them. This is easier
said than done because the poor galgos are sometimes so nervous and
fleet of foot, it’s impossible to get close to them at the first
sighting. This means we have to go back to the area repeatedly and keep
our eyes peeled. Sometimes we get to them only after they have been
hit by a car on the street. We do not overlook any abandoned galgo.
The
bigger challenge is when we get calls from further afield, which
happens from time to time, begging us to rescue the galgos in the
locality. On a Saturday in January I had to drive 350 miles to collect
40 galgos because the villagers there were worried the galgueros would
abandon them to the salt mines in the area.
This
year the galgos have been coming in at the rate of about 35 per week.
We are full to the rafters. This, of course, means we need funds for
food, petrol, veterinary care and crates so that we can more flexibly
accommodate the galgos during the periods of peak intake and when they
are in the recovery room after sterilisation.
We
also heard about that terrible discovery of a galgo grave in Tarancon,
Castilla La Mancha. This kind of find for the Spanish shelters is
always depressing because although we rescue as many as we can, we are
always confronted with those we failed to reach and were murdered. The
only saving grace is that this atrocity had tv coverage bringing shame
on the perpetrators. Closer to home, we managed to rescue the pregnant
galga who got herself down from a noose. A Scooby staff member found
her collapsed in the street and although we couldn’t save the puppies,
we did manage to save her and she is making a good recovery
I
hope that as the weeks progress our partner organisations in Europe and
the USA will help us to home some of this year’s rescues and our
regular volunteer vets will help us to sterilise the galgos, and provide
basic medical care. I look forward to and am grateful for their
visits. However, in the meantime, we are desperately in need of funds
to bridge the gap between rescue and homing.
If you can help, please donate http://scoobymedina.org/en/donate.html Alternatively and if you are in Spain, you can go to our Amazon “wish list” https://www.amazon.es/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=nav_youraccount_wl?ie=UTF8&requiresSignIn=1 and buy some practical items for Scooby, including dog food.
You
may want to join “our Scooby monthly club” by making a regular donation
to help us pay our bills (please just mark your payment “our scooby
monthly”). We’d be very grateful for a regular commitment from you to
contribute to our ongoing expenses. This will give us some relief and security.
With many thanks
Fermin Perez
.
