Exception to animal welfare?
Breeding and "use" of houndogs in Spain under scrutinyl.
The Commission of the European Union is planning a regulation to improve the protection of dogs and cats as pets. Will houndogs like the Galgos in Spain benefit from this - or will the sensitive greyhounds continue to be exempt from animal protection?
Early February in the city of Cologne in Germany: around 2,500 people march through the city center on the so-called Galgo March. Galgo is a breed of greyhound from Spain. Madita Haustein from the association Veto-Tierschutz (Veto Animal Protection) was there again this time. "More people come every year. Most of them bring dogs, in this case Galgos, and protest for more rights for hunting dogs in Spain - which are really tortured and killed in the name of tradition."
The often illiterate hunters believe that the longer the dogs suffer, the more successful the following hunting season will be.
So the men beat the animals to death with stones, throw them into pits and wells so that they drown there. They bury or burn the dogs - alive. Or burn them with acid.
Animal shelters send out search teams, treat the animals on their premises, operate on or amputate broken legs. The animal rights activists feel abandoned by politicians. At the instigation of the ruling Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), galgos and other hunting dogs were exempted from animal welfare as farm animals in September 2023. According to the PSOE, galgos are "dogs that are used for work in rural areas".
"Finally, they also argue that there are already regulations exclusively for hunting dogs. But as I was told, most hunting associations do not comply with these regulations." Manuela Ripa from the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) is Vice-President of the Intergroup on the Welfare of Animals in the European Parliament. Article 13 of the EU Treaty of Lisbon recognizes animals as sentient beings. At the same time, however, animal welfare is put on the back burner if it conflicts with the "customs of a country". As in the case of galgos in Spain.
Hunting, its supporters argue, is a cultural heritage and hunters are the guardians of the ecological balance. The hunting industry also creates 190,000 jobs and generates 6.5 million euros. Agriculture Minister Luis Planas emphasized that hunting is not only a productive activity, but also the sport with the most associations after soccer and basketball.
"A lot of policemen are hunters themselves and they join the same clubs and they share the same principles. In the villages, everyone knows who abuses the animals - and nothing is really done," Spanish filmmaker Yeray Lopez spent four years researching for his award-winning documentary "Yo Galgo". "There's a lot of pressure to animal shelters being put from the community. The staff has to deal with the hunters who often are their neighbors. It's a hard job to be ostracized in your own community because you love dogs."
This makes the support of animal rights activists from other European countries all the more important, as Madita Haustein from Veto Animal Welfare experienced on the ground in Spain. "To see "Wow, even in Cologne, Berlin and Munich, people are taking to the streets for us!" - that gives the people in the animal shelters a lot of strength."
Manuela Ripa and the EU Parliament's Animal Welfare Intergroup are now calling for an EU Commissioner for Animal Welfare. They are also hoping for their former fellow campaigner in the animal welfare group, Ernest Urtasun (The Greens). The Catalan has become Minister for Culture in Spain - and in this role is also responsible for hunting. And: In December 2023, the EU Commission presented a new regulation on the welfare of pets, including dogs. "Among other things, it will regulate how breeders have to keep the animals. And the animals are also to be registered," says Manuela Ripa. "So far, galgos are covered because hunting dogs are also actually covered by this law. And that should remain the case as a matter of urgency."
This wish could remain a wish for a long time to come. Because during the meeting of the Animal Welfare Group on the planned EU regulation on February 29, 2024, EU Commission official Lucie Charouée made it clear that the new regulation would actually make breeders of hunting dogs responsible. However, how hunters "use", i.e. keep, their dogs is to remain untouched as a "cultural activity" and "peculiarity of the country".
The Animal Welfare Group of the EU Parliament hosted a webinar on the situation of galgos in Spain on February 3, 2021 with Anna Clements, founder of S.O.S. Galgos, and Yeray Lopez, director of the documentary "Yo Galgo", among others.
In his edited speech, he describes how he sees the situation (ENG):
This text was first published in German on my website and as a radio report.
Pleasee also read my text on World Galgo Day on February 1 and the entry into force of the animal welfare amendment in Spain on September 29, 2023.