WATCH the moment that packs of Spanish hunting dogs crammed into cages and tight transport trailers cry and bark, pleading for help.
This video was recorded in northern Cordoba when Olive Press Editor Jon Clarke stumbled upon hundreds of dogs being kept in various containers as their owners prepared to take them hunting.
The Spanish hunting season runs from October until the start of February and sees tens of thousands of dogs being used to drive prey towards hunters.
The animals spend their working lives ‘on a short chain without shelter from extreme weather’ or worse, ‘crammed into dark sheds,’ insists charity Hope for Podencos, that rescues and rehomes the affected animals.
Typically Galgos and Podencos, the dogs are primarily used for hunting small animals such as rabbits and hare because of their acute eye sight and great speed.
They also participate in controversial sports like hare coursing, where they are let loose in the countryside or an enclosed track to catch a fleeing hare, and lure coursing, which uses a mechanical lure rather than a live animal.
Each year after the hunting season draws to a close, up to 100,000 dogs are abandoned or killed by their owners with it being cheaper to get rid of the animals and breed or buy new ones than keep them fed until the following year, according to Hope for Podencos.
Now, in the final weeks of this year’s hunting season, activists are preparing to take to the streets to fight for these dogs’ rights.
Incredibly, in 2023 Spain’s Parliament excluded these hounds from the nation’s new animal welfare legislation meaning that they are legally unprotected.
The 2023 decision led to the formation of UK-based group Free Spanish Hounds (FSH) who will take to British streets on January 31 and February 1 to demand their legal protection.
Similar marches will take place on the same dates in 45 Spanish cities and 35 other locations across Europe.
Click here to read more Cordoba News from The Olive Press.
