 Madrid: 3 in a car (or is it 4?) |
 Madrid: Kev and Gonzalo (the men, not the pups!) |
 Madrid: everyone is correctly labelled |
 Madrid: "...going uup" |
 Madrid: Nuria, Kev and Laura |
 Madrid: inside the lorry |
 Madrid: The CCTV unit in the lorry cab |
 Madrid: inside the lorry |
 Nantes: Agus |
 Nantes: "Hey, toys!" |
 Nantes: Rulo |
 Nantes: a quality moment |
 Nantes: Vari-kennels |
07.05.2003
(This page contains lots of pictures so will take a while to load.)
On February 14th 2003, GIN launched the Galgo Emergency Appeal arising out of meeting we had when we looked at our finances and realised that we only had funds enough to cover the 130 dogs we were currently maintaining and preparing at home and abroad for adoption. Due to the pitiful cries for help we were receiving at that time from Spain at the end of the hunting season for the deluge of abandoned galgos on the streets, countryside and in the municipal “killing” stations, we launched an appeal for a spurt of more funds to help bring some more of these dogs into care in two other locations other than the usual kennels in Vic where we board dogs near Barcelona.
Nuria and Gonzalo from Amigos de los Galgos helped us on this occasion pulling 43 galgos out of a couple of the awful dog pounds around Madrid to bring them into boarding kennels where they could be examined, rehabilitated, tested for tick and mosquito diseases and prepared and assessed for adoption. At the same time we moved on faster, 20 galgos from Vic to Josephine of Greyhounds Rescue Belgium to take advantage of GRB’s adoption opportunities and to make room for more dogs both in the kennels and on our bill.
In this work nothing is easy and I remind myself repeatedly that the dogs of Spain would not be in need of so much help if working for their welfare in Spanish society was easy, acceptable, straightforward, respected, encouraged and “politically correct”! In fact it is just about the opposite of all those things as any volunteer would tell you, and this project was no exception. We all owe a big hug to Nuria and Gonzalo for their dedication, determination, emotional strength and damned hard work looking after those dogs daily. They did not lose one, despite many crises one after the other, and it was due to their extreme love for every one of those dogs that they are now finally safe in France in the care of Catherine and Raymond and their team in Levriers en Detresse.
Laura Weatherley with Kevin as co-driver, drove her lorry from UK to Madrid and both Nuria and Catherine were thrilled to see such a well equipped and comfortable vehicle employed for such a sensitive task.
Messages to Anne and Carolyn from Spain and France during the embarkation:
‘Galgos rescued by us are
being loaded in the big marvellous van of Greyhounds in Need, you can see Laura
and
Kevin of GIN, they are excellent drivers and what is most, they also are galgo
lovers. You also can see Nuria and Gonzalo
of Amigos de los Galgos saying good bye (with tears in their eyes), to this
family of beautiful creatures, which have been
sharing hours everyday with us during three months’ (Nuria)
‘It's a pleasure and an honour to work with you. Laura is an amazing "Indiana Jane”! So much energy! Kevin is a nice gentleman. Everybody was crying in Nantes when the galgos arrived. All our partners are very pleased to receive so complete files for each dog. Nuria's work is exceptional and we really want to help her. Galgos and greyhounds have more and more good places when they arrive in France’ (Catherine)
This was true international co-operation towards a common goal; each of us doing what the other could not.
We are all especially grateful to Catherine for accepting these 43 galgos into France, for her hard work in promoting greyhounds as pets in her country, for her donation towards their care in Madrid, for her generosity in sharing the necessary veterinary work, and most of all for providing a permanent future for these lovely creatures so much in need of all our help.
Altogether, with these and the dogs who went to Belgium and those we brought into care from Cadiz, we were able to give extra help to around 70 dogs with funds from the Emergency appeal. Costs included microchipping, rabies and regular vaccine, testing for tick and mosquito diseases, laboratory and veterinary costs for examinations, treatments, sterilisations, wound care, food, maintenance and kennelling costs for 2+ months and internal and international transportation costs. Bills are still coming but the actual cost per dog looks like averaging at around £175 per dog as we anticipated.
Thanks to all who participated in
this project!