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13 March 2006 Update....
Dear all,
We did it! We got 100 Irish greyhounds
out of Santa Coloma on Saturday and 6 of us (from Scooby, Pro-Galgo,
SOS Galgos and Greyhound Compassion) drove them 8 hours to the Scooby
Shelter in Medina del Campo. There are no words to describe our
feelings as 100 greyhounds were unloaded from our vans into the Scooby
courtyard when we finally reached the shelter. The attached photos
were taken of these beautiful greyhounds this morning.
We were told that 350 Irish greyhounds
remain in the kennels at Santa Coloma. One thing is for sure, I
witnessed a willing relationship between the management at Santa
Coloma and the welfare organisations. We must be careful to preserve
this until the last greyhound is out of there.
There are conflicting reports about how
many have already been taken by gypsies and hunters. It is somewhere
between 200 and 100. In fact as we arrived at the kennels to start
loading the 100 for yesterday's transport. One of the drivers in our
team saw some gypsies making enquiries about having some of the
greyhounds.
What about the rest?
Well, Fermin took me today to visit the
boarding kennels at Laguna. There is good news and bad news. The
good news is that the kennels could house at least 280. The bad news
is that they had all been dismantled because the owner (a kind man who
showed us around) has decided to give up his boarding business.
Fermin talked to the owner to seek his views on resurrecting the
kennels and placing 200 Irish greyhounds from Barcelona there. He is
quite amenable to this.
This would require some effort on the part
of the those organisations willing to support this rescue. Here's
what has to be done:
How much would all of this cost? We have
done our sums with the owner and worked out the cost of kenneling,
staff and food to be USD 5000 / Euro 4000 / GBP3000 per month. This
translates into USD25/Euro20/GBP15 per dog, per month. This is in
addition to the cost of the transportation.
Now, here's the crunch! To make this
happen we need solid and committed financial support and Scooby is
planning for a year to 18 months. Would your organisation be in a
position to commit to this rescue programme? Scooby can't start unless
we have your buy-in. Some organisations may prefer a one off
donation, others may prefer to run their own "sponsor a
Barcelona greyhound" scheme. If this is the case, Fermin will
supply photographs so that each organisation can run its own sponsor
scheme and contribute to the running costs.
Please let us know what you think. Please
only react after consideration and if your organisation can commit.
As soon as we have enough pleges on board, we'll start with the next
transportation.
Lucinda
on behalf of Scooby
12 March 2006 Update....
Hi All,
Fermin Perez of Scooby, was able to take 100
Irish greyhounds from the Santa Coloma kennels yesterday. This is the
deplorable kennel compound where the dogs live that raced at
Meridiana. Its where they go when they are transported from the Irish
sales.
When the track closed recently, there was a scramble to immediately safeguard the dogs if possible. We all knew that the notorious galgo hunters and gypsies would be standing in line to take the dogs, as many of them are females. They were able to obtain many of them. We formed a coalition of rescue organizations immediately, which have been working behind the scenes. Fermin was able to negotiate a deal with the track manager which allows him to take at least 200, and he will be returning to Barcelona next weekend to take another 100. Then he may be able to make a third trip to take out whatever dogs remain. Vans to transport them have been rented. There are several new rescue organizations in Spain and its hoped that many dogs will be adopted right in Spain. Others will need to move out to other countries. Louise Coleman of Greyhound Friends and AEGA is flying to Barcelona on Monday. On March 15 there is a meeting which includes will bring together track management and the Spanish authorities which hold some control over movement of the dogs as they have all been micro chipped. Louise will attend the meeting as it is felt an American presence is imperative. We have arranged to get 12 airline kennels to Madrid for use if we can arrange to bring a few greyhounds to America. Just how and when has not been worked out. Please check GAC's web site greyhoundsascompanions.com for updates if you are interested in following this event. The site will be updated to show how to link to AEGA if you wish to donate funds which will be tax deductible. It will also have links to Scooby and other sites so you can follow this huge rescue. While we are delighted the track closed, it did so with absolutely no advance word, so we were caught unprepared and have been scrambling 24/7. Today we feel extremely relieved, as some dogs are actually in Fermin's custody. Please feel free to pass this news on.
Pat Colitsas
Greyhounds As Companions, Inc.
News from the Scooby Refuge....
Dear Friends, It has happen again… a racetrack has closed! What is indeed good news, at the end it becomes a big worry for all us who love greyhounds because we need to re-home 600 Greyhounds, more or less and sooner rather than later. To think that this effort can be a done by a single country or a single organization is not realistic and would only add to the chaos. Honestly, I think that it is the worst time for us because most of the Spanish shelters are full with Galgos after the hunting season. And to add 600 more dogs is going to give us all a difficult time trying to rescue them and afterwards re-home them in a proper way. In a way that these beautiful and innocent creatures deserve. But, we will do it again. Among all of us we will be able to do it. We will show the racing world once again, that they create the problem and after that we will solve it. All of us together, organizations in Europe and America working together for one cause, TO SAVE THE GREYHOUNDS FROM MERIDIANA. This is why I am asking for your help once again, because we need homes. If you are an individual reading this message please go to a Greyhound rescue organization in your country and tell them that you want to be one of the people to help these Greyhounds and have them contact us. If you are a rescue organization please fill in the forms (see below) and send them to us and let us know how many Greyhounds your organization can take. I am sure you can imagine the logistics are enormous and we want to do a perfect job, so we must plan accordingly ahead of time. Let’s work together, these Greyhounds need us to do it. Let’s remember that if one track is closed, that means there are less dogs that will suffer in the future. I know that miracles exist and another miracle is going to happen in the next few days. Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart. Fermín Pérez LET'S SAVE THE BARCELONA RACING GREYHOUNDS
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We would like to remind you that many racing Greyhounds have high prey drives and special care should be taken when they are with small animals such as cats etc.
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