PRESS RELEASE - 7 MAY 2016
PRESS RELEASE: A huge pack of Anubis-like Spanish rescue dogs and their British families descended on 10 Downing Street and the Spanish Embassy in London this May Bank Holiday weekend to speak out against the cruel treatment of dogs used for hunting in Spain and to deliver petitions to each. Similar events took place in Manchester and Glasgow. The 1st of May has been newly designated as the International Day of the Podenco.
The International Day of the Podenco Peaceful Photo Protest for Spanish Hunting Dogs in London forms a part of an ever expanding international grassroots advocacy campaign calling for an end to the cruelty towards podencos and all Spanish hunting dog breeds, for increased animal welfare education in Spain and the urgent widespread implementation of Spanish and European legislation that does exist.
The campaign is grateful for the new support of actress, author and activist Joanna Lumley:
The appalling treatment of Spanish Hunting Dogs strikes a chill to the heart; it is impossible to believe that a country as sophisticated and fine as Spain could tolerate such unforgivable cruelty to living creatures. I add my name to the many who are calling for this inhumanity to be stopped once and for all - Joanna Lumley OBE
Many of the dogs marching between the Embassy and Downing Street were the wonderfully large-eared podencos so reminiscent of hunting hounds seen on Egyptian pyramids and others were galgos (Spanish greyhounds). Both breeds are amongst the most cruelly abused animals in Europe today. It is estimated by rescuers that between 100,000 and 150,000 of these two breeds alone are abandoned and killed each year as redundant tools of the hunting fraternity.
Around 150 people travelled from all over the UK on the 1st of May with some 50 dogs to call vehemently for change. Each dog had a story to tell of their rescue from situations of abandonment, extreme neglect and significant abuse. Many of the dogs had recovered from terrible injuries and psychological trauma. Many had been on death row in the pounds of Spain having been rounded up from the streets where they had been dumped. Amongst the dogs was podenca, Rosa, who now lives happily in Devon. She had been found tied in a bag as a puppy with her siblings and thrown down a ravine.
Spanish cross-breed Toby, who now lives in Kent had been shot at in one eye and dumped for killing a chicken. He was marching in London in solidarity with his fellows in Spain, a country that kills a healthy dog every 3 minutes according to data from La Fapam, Federación de las Asociaciones de Protección Animal de la Comunidad de Madrid. The greatest majority of those killed are hunting dogs deemed surplus to requirement by their owners - too slow, too old, endlessly bred puppies in a community where neutering dogs is unheard of. The countless cruel, often strangely sadistic ways of "disposing" of these "throwaway tools" shocks and horrifies everyone who learns about the Great Forgotten of Spain; the podencos, and the similar suffering of their fellow hunting breeds.
Navigating the busy London pavements on their march, the gentle, noble-featured dogs drew surprise and admiration from tourists at Parliament Square. So few people know the plight of these hounds outside of Spain. Others recognised the dogs from their holidays in Spain where they had sadly seen such dogs stray on the streets. The 1st of May Day of the Podenco follows on from the 1st of February, designated the Day of the Galgo. February marks the end of the hunting season when most dogs are discarded by their hunter-owners. The galgos are better known than the podencos due to the practice of hunters hanging galgos from olive trees. This barbarism and their wider plight has been taken up by the greyhound rescue groups. The podencos die more invisibly and in greater numbers. Other hunting breeds that suffer in Spain are pointers, setters and bodegueros.
The 1st of May marchers delivered letters of protest and a photocard petition of other Spanish hounds now living happily as pets in the UK to the Spanish Embassy and to 10 Downing Street. The campaigners wait with hope to have a response from the Spanish government, as well as from the UK government.
The 1st of May London protest was a Facebook-led campaign initiated by Podenco Alliance and Podenco Support South West. The protest is supported by others from amongst the numerous Spanish and international refuges in Spain, the increasingly vocal group of Spanish activists, film-makers and individual Spanish police and lawyers who are trying to turn the tide of animal cruelty in Spain, and by many of the online community of fundraising and volunteering individuals working to rescue and re-home the dogs. All involved in the hunting dog plight call urgently for action that will change the root causes of the suffering – for education, and for effective animal protection legislation and convictions for animal abuse. Photos from the 1st of May UK events can be seen on the Facebook links. The protests however go on. New marches are organised by others as follows: May 7: Berlin (Germany), Estinnes Au Val (Belgium); May 21: Den Haag (The Netherlands); June 4: Strasbourg (France); June 19: Hoisdorf (Germany); August 27: Darmstadt (Germany).
