Chains of shame

Dog left to die and then summarily burnt next to neighbour’s plot

POLICE have been called in after a guard dog was left to die without food and water in the heat of the summer.

The Guardia Civil in Iznajar is investigating how the young German Shepherd had been treated prior to its death in August.

The female dog had been chained up inside the plot of a new built home in the hamlet of Los Juncares.

Its body had been left for a week, claim neighbours, before being cremated in shocking scenes by a low wall on a neighbour’s plot.

It is the second time a dog has apparently died from neglect at the house in the hamlet, five kilometres from Iznajar.

Neighbours told the Olive Press that as soon as one dog dies, it is straight away replaced by a new one.

In appalling scenes of cruelty, we took photos of two dogs at the new-built home this week.

Both chained up, they were forced to drink green, algae-ridden water and each had a bucket of meal to last them the week.

While one had a tree to act as shade, the other had practically nothing to keep the midday sun off.

Neither had any shelter from the heavy storms of recent weeks and they were surrounded by their excrement.

Worse though was the pile of bones of the previous dog, which has been left just ten yards away alongside a neighbours house.

“They put the body in plastic, covered it in petrol and set it alight,” said one English neighbour, a chef from Cardiff.

“It sums up the appalling way they treated that poor dog. And now there are two more being treated almost as badly.”

According to the Welshman, who bought a five-bedroom finca with his wife four years ago, the Spanish family – who live in Lucena – only visit the house once or twice a fortnight.

“That is the only time the dogs get any fresh food or water,” he continued.

“We are really upset we did not get in touch with the police sooner. We noticed how the poor German Shepherd was getting thinner and thinner through the summer.

“But worse she had no shade to get in from the sun. I am sure that is what killed her.”

The father of one continued: “Finally after we got back from a short holiday this summer, we discovered she had died.

“Her body was left to rot in the garden. The smell was awful and there were lots of flies around.

“Even worse, the other dog got its chain tangled around her and could not get to its food either. It was like that for nearly a week.

“Eventually the police turned up to investigate and tell us they are now prosecuting.”

Meanwhile, a Cádiz pound used a medicine used to treat arthritis in humans to kill almost 600 cats and dogs.

According to animal welfare group El Refugio, officials at the pound in Cádiz used Myoflex – a muscular relaxant that is also used to treat back pain – to put the animals down between January and August this year, causing them “a slow, painful death.”

“We believe the pound used this medicine so as to save time and cost,” Nacho Panuero, the president of El Refugio, said.

Officers from Seprona, the environmental division of the Guardia Civil, have charged four employees of the pound with animal cruelty.

All deny the charges.