Every year in Spain, tens of thousands of Spanish Greyhounds (Galgos) are abused and brutally killed by the men who bred them.
Spanish Greyhounds are used by hunters for hare coursing – a so-called sport. For the event, hunters gather with their best Greyhounds and have them compete for the fastest time to catch a hare that the hunter releases into an empty field just before releasing the Greyhound.
Each hunter breeds 20 or more new puppies each year in order to cruelly train them, weed out the underperforming, and ultimately keep only one or two deemed the best. During training, the Greyhounds are consistently abused by the hunters and are left with the most minimal amount of shelter and food. They are often starved and deprived of water because hunters consider it wise to keep them hungry for the hunt.
During training, Greyhounds are often tied to the back of a vehicle and forced to run for extended periods at 35 MPH or more. At the end of a season, the majority of a hunter’s Greyhound stock is disposed of through terrible methods – including stoning, hanging, burying alive and throwing them down wells. Some are found alive, but abandoned with serious injuries. Other abandoned Greyhounds can be found with sticks jammed in their mouths to keep them open – preventing the animal from eating or drinking, and ultimately causing them to suffer a slow and terrible death.
Spain is one of only three E.U. countries that has not banned the barbaric sport of hare coursing. SPCA International and SOS Galgos partnered in 2013 to raise international awareness and ultimately ban this practice in Spain. Join our efforts by signing our petition or donating.