COMING UP FOR AIR IN THE ANNUAL CRISIS: PLEASE HELP THE RESCUED GALGOS

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

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Peluco – I am ready now!

Hello everybody! I just wanted to let you know that I am ready now! I am ready for adoption. I am ready for the next chapter in my life; a home. In the summer of 2016 I was living in the forest with my brothers and sisters, trying to survive. We did not trust people, we were scared of them. But somehow they caught us and brought us to the shelter of Scooby. Here I slowly started to trust people and now I actually think I like them! After 1,5 years in this shelter I have seen enough. All of my friends went to homes and new friends keep coming in. I also want to go now, go to a home of my own. I am ready. Are you?

Watch me interact with a stranger here, look how much I have grown! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT9E0JFeIsY

 

I’m shy but I promise I will love you! – Castaño

I am shy. Yes. But I am curious! And I want to trust you, I really do! If you knew me a year ago than you would probably not see me outside of the house when you entered my paddock, but look at me now! I am happy that you’re here, I am smelling you when I think you don’t notice me and I am not running away anymore. I am getting there. One day I will be in a home where I have people and a brave dog-friend to trust in and who can show me I don’t have to be shy anymore. You will see then I can be brave and crazy happy too! And I will look at you with my beautiful brown eyes and cute ears and I will show you that I love you. Forever.

Castaño is 5,5 years old and lives at Scooby for 1,5 years now. He is still available for adoption!

Thanks to generous donors and Lotte,the ferrets could come to Holland!

Acting upon a request from Lotte, a Dutch volunteer, Scooby Holland started a fundraising to bring three ferrets from Spain to Holland. After an appeal on Facebook the minimum amount needed, was raised! Thanks to the perseverance of Lotte and the generous donors  (thank you for that!) the medical costs and transport could be arranged, so that the three ferrets could come to the Netherlands before winter. They are kept in a foster home of the ferret association ‘Frettig Gestoord’. This association is specialized in taking care of ferrets and finding them a good home, something which is quite difficult to do from Spain itself. Scooby is very thankful to this organisation for helping. The ferrets Coco, Pablo and Evita are now used to their new home: they eat well and were given a clean bill of health by the veterinarian. Now they are looking for their forever home, if possible together! Interested in these Scooby ferrets? Take a look at  http://frettiggestoord.nl/

Read the story of Lotte and her Scooby-ferret Kiba below:

“When I went to Spain to volunteer at Scooby, I didn’t expect to fall in love. I had promised my mother and my boyfriend not to take an animal home with me. I was prepared to resist all those lovely cats and dogs. I didn’t expect there were ferrets living at Scooby. I had never seen a ferret before, but I fell in love immediately with those lovely little animals with teddy-ears, vampire teeth and a snake-like body. One specific ferret, Kiba, stole my heart and although I had made a promise, a little animal came back with me to the Netherlands. But I kept thinking of all those other ferrets. I think every animal deserves a home, personal care and love. Unfortunately ferrets are not very popular pets in Spain, and it looked like those ferrets would have to spent the rest of their lives in the shelter. That’s why I decided to contact the ‘Frettig Gestoord’ association, in order to get those ferrets to the Netherlands and give them a better chance at finding a new home.”

Dierenopvang Koningen builds a special place for old shelter dogs

Dierenopvang Koningen, one of our partners in Holland, received a large amount of money from Stichting Dierenlot (an animal foundation) to help them realize their dream: a special place for the older shelter dogs. These dogs are having a hard time in a regular shelter because of the slippery floors and  the temperature among others.  Koningen will create a homely environment where the oldies get special care and also can be visited by old people from a healthcare institution. A very special project! On behalf of all people, animals and especially the old dogs from Scooby: CONGRATULATIONS! We can’t wait to see the results and see old Scooby dogs walking around there.

Watch the Dutch video of Astrid Koningen in the building that will become Veccio's Seniorenparadijs. The first dog you see in the shelter is Scooby’s ten year old Lola and the small black old dog with a tie is Timon, an old Scoobydog that lives with Astrid now:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYrIFcu8YS4

Scooby also has a separate place for older dogs; the Oldies Garden, with a house with beds and couches to make them more comfortable in the cold winters and hot summers. But the best thing for them would be living in a real house with a real family. Please don’t forget the oldies when you are thinking about adopting a dog.