![]() “It was kind of like a family get-together,” Findlay says of the hanging sites. Galgos have been thrown down wells, cast into rivers to drown, burned to death, and doused with acid.Īlistair Findlay of World Animal Protection, a U.K.-based animal welfare nonprofit, conducted a months-long undercover investigation on galgo hangings in the central province of Castile and León in 2003. ![]() Their desperate scrabbling for footing as they slowly choke to death is called “piano playing,” Christman explains. Those who have embarrassed their galgueros by racing poorly may also be hanged, but low to the ground so their paws barely touch. Dogs who have performed well in competition but are no longer in top form may be hanged high from a tree-a relatively quick death. (Podencos are a breed of hunting dog facing similar mass abandonment in Spain.)Īnd then there are the hangings. branch of Galgos del Sol and of Galgo Podenco Support, a U.S.-based organization focused on facilitating American adoptions of galgos and podencos. “Last year we found one, and someone had gone at it with a pin hammer on the back of the skull,” recalls Marylou Hecht, director of both the U.S. Some are left in forests, their legs intentionally broken so they can’t find their way home. Galgos have been thrown down wells, cast into rivers to drown, burned to death, and doused with acid. Because there’s a seven-month lull between hunting seasons, owners “don’t want to be bothering with them too much,” Solera explains. It’s the rampant, unchecked breeding-the dogs are rarely spayed or neutered-that leads to the high numbers of discarded galgos, as well as the fact that the dogs are only useful for such a short time. “It’s very hard to know how many are being killed because we don't know how many are being born,” Solera says. Photographs by Rebecca Hale, National Geographic Death by Horrific MeansĪfter one or two hunting seasons, galgos who don’t measure up are killed-as many as 100,000 every year, according to Christman. Galgos del Sol has rescued more than a thousand of the dogs since 2011. Upon arrival, she was shocked by the sheer number of abandoned dogs on the streets and felt compelled to act. Solera had never heard of galgos before she moved to Murcia from the U.K. “If one of them falls down or gets injured, too bad.” To train galgos for maximum speed, “a lot of times they'll take 12, 15 dogs out, tie them to the back of a motorbike or a car and run ,” says Christman. “We've had galgueros that have had 70, 120 galgos, living on crisps and bread and eating each other when they die,” she says. According to Tina Solera, founder of Murcia-based Galgos del Sol, the organization that rescued Luke and Sirius, dogs in many parts of the country are often kept in terrible conditions, chained outdoors in small concrete bunkers and fed just enough to keep them alive-and ravenous enough to give them an edge in competitions. Galgos are mass-bred in hopes of finding that special courser. In the most prestigious of these, held in a different host city in Spain every January, the winning galgo takes home the Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, or King’s Cup, tacitly sponsored by the king of Spain himself, Felipe VI.īy Abigail Christman Galgo Rescue International Network Galgueros hold coursing competitions every year between September and February. Lure coursing replaces the hare with a mechanical lure. In hare coursing-a controversial sport-the dogs race over the countryside or an enclosed track to catch the fleeing hare. Galgueros, the people who own and breed the dogs, use them for hare and lure coursing. They're a little more fiery, a little more sassy.” “They're a greyhound with a sense of humor. “They're great dogs,” says Abigail Christman, founder of the Galgo Rescue International Network (GRIN), based in Colorado. People who work with galgos say they tend to be loyal, kind, and affectionate. They’re similar in appearance to greyhounds, with a smaller, lighter build, and have either smooth or shaggy coats. Thanks to the hard work of organizations like Fundación Benjamin Menhert, many galgos are getting a second chance. WATCH: Paloma, a galgo, was rescued from the streets and now lives with her adoptive family in northeastern Italy.
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