The Power of Three

I watched with childlike curiosity as the Christmas posts began to appear. Podencos wearing Santa hats, galgos wearing reindeer antlers and little dogs wearing Christmas jumpers. After a dismal autumn, where in-fighting among individuals and groups seemed to be the norm, there seemed to be genuine festive spirit in the air, a sense of bona fide goodwill to man and beast alike. Those of you who have been following my story will know that I only stumbled into the world of Spanish dog rescue in February 2013. It was never my intention to become a part of it, my life was busy enough, full enough, challenging enough without it. If I'm brutally honest, my intention was to adopt a podenco and maybe hang around on the fringes, socialise with other podenco owners, when and if I had a little time. 

And yet here we are. It's January 2014 and my involvement is increasing. In the last 3 months I've started this blog, shaved my head to raise money for Beverley Farmer Podencos and published an article about podencos, in America's most serious dog magazine. In short, I'm committed to doing whatever I can to raise awareness of the podencos and their plight and to helping to spread the word about cruelty to animals in Spain.

So what changed my mind? Why didn't I adopt Rico and go my own way? I've never been someone who drifts along and follows the crowd and I've always preferred the real world to a virtual one so I really wasn't a big Facebook fan. The answer is simple. It was people who influenced my decision. To be precise, the attitudes and actions of three specific people are the reason I stayed and the reason I'm writing this. They all do very different things, they head up very different groups, but their dedication is absolute and their compassion is tangible. It is to them I would like to pay tribute with this posting.

Beverley Farmer Podencos (Podenco Friends) Murcia, Spain.

First up, is of course, Beverley Farmer. It was she who fuelled my podenco addiction and she who allowed me to adopt one of her precious rescue dogs when most other organisations hesitated because of the apparent lack of back up in Austria. I've got to know Bev quite well over the course of the last 10 months and she calls a spade a spade and makes up her own mind about everything and everyone. She knew full well she would find a way to catch Rico if it all went wrong but I also believe that I wouldn't have got anywhere near Rico if she thought she'd have to use her contacts to catch him if he fell. 

Those of you who have read my article in the Canine Chronicle this week, will know how Bev and Warren evolved from two people looking for a life of leisure in the sun, to two full time, hands on, puppy feeding, poop scooping, dedicated podenco warriors. For anyone who hasn't read it (yet), I will briefly summarise their transition. Ten years ago, Bev and Warren settled in Spain looking for fun and relaxation in the sun. They had a villa on the coast and life was rosy. They adopted their first podenco a couple of years after arriving, Tilly, a little girl found in a dumpster, a one off occurrence they thought. A few years later, Midas, their second podenco arrived and they thought they'd done their bit for adopting Spain's waifs and strays. And then, a call from a friend, a podenco beaten to within an inch of his life, bleeding, broken and tied to tree. Bev cradled him in her arms as he crossed the bridge and that, as they say, was that. From humble beginnings, taking a dog or two into their home, rehabilitating and re homing them, building contacts and developing a reputation across the world for their work with podencos, Podenco Friends was born. In their finca in mountains of Murcia (the villa went out the window along with their fun in the sun dream), Bev and Warren now have more than 20 adult podencos and nine pups which they have hand reared from their first week of birth. By now, most of us know the story of Alexa who was wandering in the mountains, pregnant and afraid. She gave birth to nine pups whilst volunteers searched for her for days. She sustained a serious injury, probably defending her babies from a wild boar, and was eventually found by the rescuers and brought to Bev. She's currently being looked after at Finca la Castellana and the nine babies are with Bev, being hand reared by Bev and Warren and being watched over by uncle Midas. 

Midas with his self appointed charges

As if all this wasn't enough for two people, they answered another desperate call last week. Another lost soul, a beautiful podenco ibicenco, a veritable bag of skin and bones, the worst case Bev, and probably many others, has ever seen. This girl, Jasira, will not lack for love, attention, care and experience but will require a lot of medical care to establish why she is so thin, why she has constant diarrhoea and whether she will, in fact, make it. After that it's a long and slow road back to health. Still, if I were a podenco in need, there is no place I'd rather be than with Bev and Warren. It is with them that she has the best chance.

Jasira - in the best possible hands

Amid the hands on care, there's work to be done promoting the cause. It's relentless, as relentless as the cruelty of many hunters. It's vital, as vital as the feeding of those nine beautiful babies. But it's working. The message is getting out there. Of late there has been a lot of interest from the USA and following my article in the Canine Chronicle, I'm happy to say that Bev is inundated with requests for information and the like from far and wide. It's good. It's all good. 

Soon, Bev and Warren will realise their dream. Podenco Friends will become a recognised association, their website will be live and their work will take on a new element, that of education. It's not enough to firefight in Spain. We need to educate, to inform and to enlighten. That is the future. 

In the last ten months I have watched these two go from strength to strength and they deserve every bit of the success they have achieved. I for one, stand firmly by their side. I'm proud to be a part of Podenco Friends and although 2000km away from the action, I'm determined to do whatever I can to help.

Thank you Bev, thank you Warren, from podencos and podenco lovers everywhere.

If you would like to make a donation to help with Jasira's care, with the care of the nine babies or with any aspect of Bev and Warren's tireless and oh so essential work, please paypal podencofriends@hotmail.co.uk

Jacqui Ross - Last Chance Animal Rescue (Malaga, Spain)

It's the end of March 2013. It's almost Easter. I'm on Facebook. I've just been chatting to Bev about the arrangements for Rico's transport. I come across a shared post. It's about someone called Jacqui Ross and it shocks me to my core. I've never heard of this lady before this moment and I've no idea what she does but I read the posting three or four times. I then sit back in shell shocked disbelief. After I've recovered myself, I share it too. It's a few days before Easter. The Spanish are big on catholic holidays and they want to close the perrera in Malaga over the whole holiday. That means they dispose of the old and sick and the unwanted dogs. In the cruelest way you can imagine. 

I didn't know Jacqui Ross back then but that post had a profound effect on me. I joined her group and I've watched her grow, I've watched her succeed, I've watched her laugh, scream, shout and cry. I didn't know Jacqui Ross back then but I do now. I will let Jacqui tell you her story, in her own words.

I have always..all my life from a small child been an animal lover...moving to Spain 10 years ago...brought a whole new world of loving animals to into my life....my work revolves around spending hours a day in the internet..which is where I became aware of the level of abused and abandoned animals here in Spain...In the beginning I was able to concentrate on fund raising for shelters as we had a bar and restaurant...and a holiday rental company...managing to raise aver 33.000 euros in 2 years. We sold our bar and restaurant in October 2012...and I concentrated on the rentals business...spending more and more time on Facebook. Joining rescue groups...1 in particular kept posting the same photo of a Yorkie in my local perrera...I offered to go and visit the perrera to check out the dog's details...and that was when I was consumed with the greatest feeling of desperation I think I have ever felt in my entire life...all those dogs...waiting to know what their fate would be...it was winter and they were all so sad, and cold and unwanted....I photographed everyone of their little faces and stroked them through the bars of their cages, how could such lovely dogs be in this place, waiting for either a kind person to choose them or to be put to sleep if no one did. The incinerator of the animal crematorium pumping out smoke in the background hit me like a bulldozer...I had to get off my backside and do something to highlight the plight of these poor dogs. I came home posted my first album of the dogs waiting to know their fate. This was the 25th February 2013...and I shared it everywhere...slowly people started contacting me about 1 or 2 particular dogs...asking me if I could help them get the dogs out and to the UK. I was terrified..I had no idea where to begin...but the private side of the perrera let me rent a kennel from them at 5 euro a night...so I adopted them in my name and moved them out of the perrera and into safety...I asked advice on transport and the procedure...and my first dogs arrived safely at their new homes...This continued...one by one..I was saving a dog at a time...some to Spain and some to the UK....the number coming out was increasing and friends were offering to help me, we raised some money to build 3 holding pens at my friends...and they suggested we needed a name and a Facebook group..and so Last Chance Animal Rescue was born. 

I go to the perrera everyday...with my camera, and have managed to strike up a good relationship of trust with the workers...who appreciate what I am trying to do for the dogs....I managed to have a few quality meetings with them and explained what a wonderful concept it would be to transform the public opinion of this pound from that of killing station to that of re homing....in principal a few basic changes needed to take place...a change of vet...as the current one was impossible to work with...a more open attitude to the public..with helpful smiling staff.

The vet was replaced within 2 weeks...we now have a wonderful vet...a vet who at last cares enough to treat the sick and is honest and open with me. Telling me when numbers are critical...tests and inoculations for contagious diseases are now available to buy and proper help and advice is readily available from the staff.

The group Last Chance Animal Rescue is growing daily and we have saved over 400 dogs since February 2013...our group members are the hardest working people..sharing and donating to help the dogs on a daily basis...we work closely with other rescues helping each other the best way we can...with over 40 dogs being taken out in the last 2 weeks leading up to Christmas. For every dog we take out we are in fact saving the lives of 2...making space in the adoption pens for another dog to be brought forward. 

This is my life now...I wake in the morning and spend every waking hour posting sharing and finding homes...whether foster, adoption or private boarding for as many dogs as is possible...I cannot take a day off...I do not want to take a day off...this has become my vocation, and I am proud to be a part of this great, ever evolving rescue...I have 8 dogs and 5 cats at my house...and many many more dotted all over the place...all safe and warm and loved...with a happy future in front of them thanks to the team work of our members from all over the world...On the 23rd December I took another 9 dogs out of the pound and into foster homes....Happy New Year to these babies...from Auntie Jacqui and the crew...but it is never ending...with so many more lives depending on us daily. 

An all too familiar sight for Jacqui. A beautiful dog hoping for her last chance.

Jacqui's organisation is very aptly named. For the dogs in the pound in Malaga, Jacqui Ross really is their last chance. I have watched as she has taken dogs out at her own expense because the funds are depleted and the dogs are sick or weak or have given up. This Christmas there were no killings at this perrera and I believe it to be no co-incidence. Jacqui never gives up but she's become a consumate professional rescuer in a short space of time. Her growing membership means that she is able to foster where necessary and then send the dogs on to their forever homes fairly quickly. I applaud her humour, her tenacity and her dedication. Jacqui, you're a one off, keep doing what you do!

If you'd like to make a donation to help Jacqui save more dogs from certain death, please PayPal lastchanceanimalrescue@hotmail.com

Viv Wharton - ACTIN Spain (Murcia, Spain)

A chance conversation with a friend led me to discover the work of another unique organisation. It's a brilliant concept. Here, rescuing dogs is not the primary goal, rather taking on those who abuse them and fighting for appropriate animal protection laws in Spain. Some of the stories I have followed this year have been nothing short of mind blowing and again, I have watched this organisation flourish, despite the scene in which it is set. This is the story of yet another lady who came to Spain to do anything but rescue animals, but ended up not being able to look the other way. This is Viv's story, in her own words: 

My first memories as a child were of wanting a dog, I used to drag around an old toy dog on a lead. He was green, stuffed with straw and I named him Beauty. On my 5^th birthday my grandmother got me a real dog called Patch, it was the happiest day of my 5 years of life and I doted on Patch.  I couldn’t bear to be parted from him and Patch was the same about me, he followed me everywhere. We lived in a village in Ireland and I was going to my first school. I hated leaving my little dog each day. One day, the school bus arrived and waited across the road for me. I ran out the door not realising that Patch had followed, he tried to get on the bus and the bus was tight against the verge; as it pulled away, Patch got pulled underneath the bus and was trapped. I could hear him crying and no-one would help and a teacher held on to me as I screamed. There was no compassion for the dog or for me. I will never forget that day at school, all day and I could only cry, they would not let me go home.  That evening my Mother told me Patch had gone to heaven. I asked if he could stay asleep in his bed and didn’t understand why he couldn’t, or where he could be. I visualised my little dog with wings of an angel and I held that in my heart to console myself for many years. It was my first broken heart. 

My second broken heart came in mid-life, after battling with aggressive breast cancer and losing my dear Mum to the horrible disease, after a 9 year fight, and 16 months later I was diagnosed with it myself. I fought it and won, so five years later and getting the thumbs up, I was devastated to discover my Husband was being unfaithful. We had recently bought a house in Spain to run as a retreat business between us, Pilates and Golf retreats that would perhaps be our retirement home eventually too. After the last few years of my life and the devastating blow I had recently discovered, I really wanted some peace in my life. I was a teacher, of Pilates and Yoga and it was my great love, so I decided to come and rest at the house and prepare for the first retreat. 

After a few weeks, I knew that the house was my opportunity to leave the marriage and make it easier for both of us by never returning. So, without any planning for the future, or knowledge of the area where the house was and unable to speak Spanish, I did a Shirley Valentine!!

The first few months with no income and nothing to live on, I wasn’t prepared for the discovery that I was in a place where there was no regard for animals. The village was rural and a farming community, there were dogs chained up outside chicken sheds, horses were kept in unacceptable conditions, dogs seemed to be in the village street without owners. At first I didn’t really acknowledge how bad it was, I saw things through a mist. One day I heard a cat crying really loudly, it was coming from the village bin, it was Sunday and it was full of debris, I assumed the at the cat had jumped in for some food and was trapped under the debris. I started to pull everything out but still the distressed meowing and no sign of the cat. In the end I threw the bin on its side and at the bottom was a supermarket carrier bag with a knot in it and that was the source of the sound. Shaking and crying I tore open the bag, to discover the bodies of 4 dead kittens and one still alive. I screamed so loud in horror but my neighbours just looked on, I ran to my next door neighbour, I knew she had a cat that had just had kittens, I asked if her cat could feed this one for us, just to keep it alive. I then realised that the kittens were from her own cat, she just turned her back and arrogantly ignored me. I was devastated that someone could do this. This was a drop in the ocean; I needed to get stronger.

I had already acquired 2 dogs from the previous owners of the house, who had left them behind, my beautiful Nina the pointer and Molly the German Shepherd, they already had their own sad story and soon there were to be more, many more.  

Puppies and kittens were outside my home very often, left to fend for themselves. Strange sad noises from dogs in the night, dogs on chains, then they would disappear and weeks later lying dead in the dry river bed, covered by a sack. In the summer months, no water, or food left for the chained dogs. Every time I went out I saw something, there were dogs lying dead or injured in the road. After a year of struggling in my new environment and trying to support myself financially I had met and fallen in love with my wonderful artist partner – poor and penniless we strove to make the business into a successful retreat but were hampered constantly, sometimes daily, by animals in trouble. There were so many heart rending stories, and we were both consumed with rescuing. The stress of it made me hate the place and eventually I stopped going out. For 6 months I was depressed and exhausted with rescuing animals and not being able to live a normal life or focus on my new partner and business.

Networking on Facebook had been a Godsend; I had homed numerous dogs but was finding it exhausting, stressful and had no resources to look after them. The final straw came with a cross Staffie dog called Toffee. He was thin, wandering around the village and each time I took my dogs out he would join us. 

He turned up with a leg injury one day and I knew it was time to get to safety but I could not bring him into my house as some of the other dogs didn’t like this boy. I just could not get help for him…in the end, we got him a foster home short term and eventually the wonderful Marina Lennartson from Desert Hearts kennels helped me out. He was there for 2 years, and in spite of them always being full to the hilt, they took great care of Toffee. We thought he would be impossible to home, however, now he is happily settled in a wonderful home in Exeter.

I saw all the charities trying to save the dogs and working but the amount of abandonment was much higher than the charities, rescuers and resources could cope with. I started asking, ‘surely this is not acceptable’? People are cruel, no-one is doing anything about it…but no-one was interested, they were too busy rescuing….After living for 4 years and feeling as though I was amongst a holocaust for dogs, I could bear it no longer and reached out again. ‘Does anyone want to do something about this situation’? The cure not the sticking plaster; I contacted lots of Associations and mentioned what I wanted to do. But honestly people did not believe anything can be done, some even said accept it; telling me you are living in their country, you cannot do a thing. But no way would I – I don’t accept cruelty to living creatures anywhere, being a certain nationality does not make that an excuse.

Then I met Maria, a vet on the outskirts of my village and who felt the same as me, and I started to meet more people who were interested in what I wanted to do. I really wanted to join another charity and make my goals a part of their Associations activities. But it was starting to look as though I needed to set up my own Association; it was the last thing I wanted. I had to run my business and focus on that; I had by now 7 dogs and the numbers ever increasing. So Maria and I set up Actin - Animal Care Treatment International Network, and the idea to bring many people together and build a platform to make awareness of the situation and try to find a way to help, to promote sterilisation and provide education about animal welfare in schools. 

(Sterilisation billboard photo)

That was in June 2012, but after about 4 months, I was frustrated. Maria had more experience than I in the understanding of the attitude’s, in some ways my refusal to accept the attitude and my naivety of what could be done was a blessing because I boldly pushed on in the firm belief that this could be done. If I had known then, what I know now, I may have given up!! Maria became frustrated with me; I would not listen to advice about accepting my neighbours' ways. Quietly working away at education, was not going to be enough, I couldn’t live with the cruelty around me without saying something and doing something.

Then I met Estefania, an Animalista and rescuer for 7 years in Spain, working by herself and saving many animals. We thought the same; we had the same goals and could not stay quiet about cruelty, so we joined forces. That partnership was to bring Actin to a place that I knew it needed to be and now I was getting stronger, along with Stef, Actin was going in the direction I knew it needed to be. We were starting to get more serious help from others too, people that realised what we were trying to do and had started to believe in us.

A case that I had known about for a long time involved a beautiful pointer, whom we called Rudy. He lived in a crude enclosure that could be seen from the road, he was desperate for love and for food and we and others had started feeding him, long before thoughts of Actin. 

Rudy - a turning point for ACTIN

His ignorant farmer owner had around 14 other dogs, all on chains, no shelter; a stale French bread stick every few days was their food. But Rudy was barely even given that, he never had water and he was totally ignored. Thin, covered in ticks and crying for attention when I or any of our group passed by and gave him a little food, his plight seemed hopeless.  We had tried to get him out once and had to return him, the Farmer’s son was the owner and Rudy was micro chipped…the owner didn’t even live anywhere near the area. I vowed to help Rudy when I set up the association and at last it was going to happen. Stef and I knew we had to focus on getting dogs out of terrible and troubled situations like Rudy’s and bringing their owners to justice, working on legal rights for animals and talking to cruel owners. Rudy had by now been in his predicament for around 2 years and his disgusting living conditions were now shared with 3 more dogs, one a female pointer who, inevitably, was pregnant. 

We had learned a lot by now, we were much more aware of the laws, and most of all we had a much greater awareness of how to deal with individual cases. We finally got Rudy and the rest out, with a legal agreement, a promise from the farmers of better treatment for the remaining dogs, which we planned to watch over. We took 6 dogs, one died soon after and the female pointer gave birth to 8 handsome pups who looked just like their dad, Rudy. All the dogs have now been adopted into wonderful homes.

Since then we have visited the farmer regularly, he now feeds the remaining dogs proper food, has lightened their chains and replaced rope with collars. He takes them to the vet and has had them all inoculated against rabies. He has provided crude shelter for some of the dogs and although it is far from perfect, it is much better than before. This owner needed encouragement and a little persuasion and education. 

The shock of having to find funds for all of the dogs and then so many more, made us realise that we needed to grow, we needed to shout about what we intended to do for there to be any impact and that is exactly what we do. Now we have a thick file of successful rescues, some similar to Rudy’s case and some far worse with prosecutions pending. We have support from the local Seprona, the arm of the Guardia civil that is responsible for animals and we have policeman friends who care, support and are there for us in tricky situations.

At the moment we are tackling our biggest case yet, a privately owned company, with a pound that has contracts from town halls far and wide. Places like these are not in the interest of the animals, only for profit. There are many all over Spain. This one is on our doorstep and now the many things that happen there, that are cruel and unacceptable, must stop. Dogs are left in there without any basic care and many people have testified about cruelty and irregular, unlawful things against the animals. We have already taken 23 dogs from here and many are sick. We are working with another local Spanish Association, to bring justice and if we are successful, we hope this will be a stepping stone to get the pound/perrera situation in Spain improved.

Then, we will tackle our plan for the hunting dogs problem – ‘the shame of Spain’, in fact there are so many shameful happenings in Spain and people have no idea to the extent.

My heart has now been broken 1,000 times by the cruelty I have witnessed and dealt with, but we will never give up until we see real change.

Actin has a file now of many cases dealt with and can prove our passion and determination. With the right support, our anti cruelty campaign will get the lift it needs to raise this off the ground, we just need to get the confidence of more of the people who care, to show we can do it.

A proposed anti cruelty campaign poster

People can help and support by joining us as a member on the website. We are still learning and still striving to reach our goals, so members will be on that journey with us. There are many other associations in Spain working tirelessly for this cause. Actin is the link to bring the Ex-pats who have felt helpless against the situation, together, to give them a voice, to give the people outside of Spain, a chance to help and to make Actin stronger, an international presence within Spain, to help this massive uphill battle and to fight, alongside those that want to make a difference. 

I admire Viv's work and determination enormously but more than anything I admire her courage. How many of us would wish to come face to face with cruel and often angry animal owners in an unfamiliar land with an unfamiliar language? Many of us say we want to be the voice of those who cannot speak for themselves. Help Viv and her team to speak for the defenceless. Help ACTIN be that voice.

If you wish to make a donation to ACTIN to help Viv fund the many vital projects she has ongoing, please PayPal admin@actin-spain.com

Three very different causes. Three very different personalities. One goal unites them - to ease the suffering of animals in Spain. Ladies, you are the reason I didn't, couldn't, walk away after I had adopted Rico. You stopped me in my tracks. You are, the power of three. I salute you.

Alex xxx