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!
