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Every year, thousands of sweet, loyal hounds are obtained by hunters, sometimes kept near starving because the hunters believe a starving hound makes a better hunting dog. Then, when hunting season is over, most of these dogs are horribly tortured, mutilated, and killed (*hanging is one common method) or abandoned on the streets of Spain, suffering further abuses, injuries, and/or painful deaths. This vicious cycle is repeated every year, with new dogs, followed by new abuses, neglect, abandonment, and/or killings.
Because these dogs are not only devoted but also highly intelligent, some of their hunter-owners will take extreme measures to keep them from applying their wit and devotion to finding their way back home after abandonment. For example, Podencos and Galgos have been found with their legs broken so that they can’t get back home, or their eyes gouged out so they can’t see to get back home. Some have been set on fire as a means of free euthanasia, many are hanged from trees, some have their mouths pried permanently open so that they cannot eat, and one recently had its throat slit in front of a rescue worker, apparently out of spite. They are often hit by cars and left in the road to suffer until dead.
Hound Sanctuary is a rescue sanctuary that offers foster, safe haven, behavior modification, training, outreach & education, and adoption–to exceptional homes and adopters, to whom we also provide long-term guidance, support, affiliation, and follow up for the dogs lucky enough to be rescued. Located in Oregon, U.S., they serve needy sighthounds, with a focus on the Galgo Espanol (Spanish greyhounds), the Podenco Ibicenco (Spanish Ibizan hound) and American Ibizan, Podenco Canario, and other sighthounds including borzoi, wolfhounds, deerhounds, Salukis, Afghan hounds, and similar. Their rescue missions are enacted locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
SPCA International has been working on the plight of the Galgos and Podencos for a number of years now and is honored to support their efforts.
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