Opener

[Collage from original sound clips]

Rafa: The new law is here. Hunting dogs are out, guard dogs are out. And the judge can decide whether jail or fine. Shitty law, shitty parties here with us.

Mary: This law should never have seen the light in a country like Spain, where the level of abandonment and mistreatment is so big. This is horrible.

Teresa: Oh Christoph, everything is so terrible here. It's getting worse and worse. You can't explain it, you can't tell it. I'm ashamed to say it, but that's just the way it is.

CR: Do you still have power to fight?

Patri: (laughs) I'm very very tired and disappointed but than I only have to look at the faces and the eyes of my Galgos in my shelter and I must... I must. If we don't do it, who?

CR: Ya, who does it?

Patri: The hunting lobby in Spain is really powerful, they have a lot of power.

Intro

These are Jasper's adventures.
My name is Christoph Richter (CR) and I am telling you about life with a Galgo.

This episode is about Spain's new Animal Protection Law. I would like to summarise and shed more light on what the law now means for the animal protection on the ground.

More than a year has passed from the amendment of the Civil Code that pets are no longer objects but are considered sentient beings to a new Animal Protection Law and the reform of the related Penal Code. The whole process from the first, promising draft law to an amendment by the governing party PSOE and finally the passing of an amended law was extremely complex and difficult to understand from the outside. During the last year, it was hardly possible to make reliable statements about the current status and where the law was heading.

This episode comes out in July 2023. I am looking for answers to the question of what happens in the Spanish Animal Protection now.

How was the road to the new Animal Protection Law?

Back in 2017, the Unidas Podemos party presented a draft amendment to the law in the Spanish parliament. Animals should be recognised as sentient beings. However, the draft did not receive any attention, also due to new elections in 2019.

These parliamentary elections resulted in a stalemate between Spain's left and right. On 7 January, a left-wing coalition government was formed by the PSOE and Podemos.

So now the party that already tried to make animals better off in 2017 was involved in government.

This is how an amendment to the Civil Code could be enforced: Since 5 January 2022, pets in Spain are no longer objects but recognised as sentient beings.

Podemos presented the draft of a completely new Animal Protection Law: Hunting and working dogs should be included.

In February 2022, the first hurdle on the way to a new national Animal Protection Law was cleared when the draft was approved by Congress. However, PSOE gave in to pressure from the hunting lobby and introduced an amendment to exclude hunting and working dogs from the law. There was a prolonged stalemate in the legislative process, votes on PSOE's motion in Congress were repeatedly postponed. Finally, the small coalition partner Podemos agreed to the amendment in order not to completely jeopardise the new Animal Protection Law. A separate regulation for hunting and working dogs should now be worked out. On 22.12.2022, Congress adopted the PSOE amendment. After that, the process accelerated. On 09.02.2023, the law was approved by Congress and passed to the Senate. On 09.03.2023, the law was approved by the Senate by a narrow majority, but went back to Congress with some amendments. On 16.03.2023, Congress finally passed the new TS law. On 29.03.2023, the law was published in the Spanish Official Gazette. 6 months after this date, the law will then enter into force. Hunting and working dogs remain excluded. In addition, the reform of the Penal Code was adopted. Prison sentences can now be converted into fines. The legal remedies that animal rights activists could use for animal abuse were invalidated. It is now almost impossible to bring charges of mistreatment, poor husbandry or inadequate care or to obtain effective penalties. The criminalisation of animal abuse has been removed if the abuse does not require veterinary treatment. This means that sexual abuse of animals was a punishable offence before the reform and is now again exempt from punishment.

What is the law actually about?

Article 1 describes the purpose and scope of application.

1. the purpose of this Law is to establish a basic legal regime for the entire Spanish territory for the protection, guarantee of the rights and welfare of domestic animals and wild animals in captivity, without prejudice to animal health, which is regulated by Law 8/2003.

2. Animal rights are understood to be the rights of animals to good treatment, respect and protection, inherent in and derived from their nature as sentient beings, and the related duties that the legal system imposes on humans, especially those who interact or have relationships with animals.

In the third place, it states which animals are excluded from the scope of application:

Animals used in bullfighting events. Farm animals, unless the owner decides to register farm animals as pets. Experimental animals for animal testing and other scientific purposes. Wild animals, unless they are in captivity. Animals used for specific activities, such as sporting activities, falconry, herding and guard dogs. Animals used for professional activities such as rescue dogs, companion animals, falconry dogs, sheepdogs and herding dogs for livestock. Animals of the security and armed forces.

Also excluded are:

Hunting dogs, hunting dog teams and hunting assistance animals. They are all protected by the relevant European, State and regional regulations applicable to them outside this Act.

End of quote

So already in the first article, hunting dogs and all other working dogs are denied good treatment, respect and protection.

I cannot reproduce the complete text of the law here, but here is an excerpt of the most important changes and regulations:

The law regulates the sale of pets. A new system of animal and breeder registers is to be introduced.

It states that vertebrate animals must live in dignified conditions, it is about welfare, the rights of animals and their healthy development.

Methods of training or handling animals shall not cause suffering, fear or anxiety. Animals shall not be left in enclosed vehicles in heat or other life-threatening conditions.

Regular veterinary examinations are obligatory and must be documented.

Animals must not be left alone for long periods of time, for dogs this means no longer than 24 consecutive hours.

It shall be prohibited to abandon, mistreat, attack or neglect animals.

The use of animals in public performances, artistic, tourist or promotional activities that cause them distress, pain or suffering is prohibited, with the exception of bullfighting performances.

It is forbidden to train dogs for fighting.

It is forbidden to fight with dogs or to train or incite them to attack other animals or people.

Animals may only be justifiably euthanised, under the control of a veterinarian, in order to avoid the suffering of the animal due to causes which cannot be remedied and which affect the animal's quality of life. Nor may any mutilation or permanent alteration of the body be carried out on them.

No vertebrate animal shall be permanently tethered or allowed to roam unattended, dogs and cats shall not be regularly kept on terraces, balconies, roofs, in storerooms, cellars, yards and similar spaces or in vehicles, and animals shall not be tied to moving motor vehicles.

The law also regulates genetic selection.

This is an excerpt of the most striking changes.

Some of these are good and important points, some are long overdue ... but: they only apply to domestic animals, not to farm animals, not to wild animals and certainly not to hunting and working dogs.

Even though it was looking more and more unlikely, there was a faint hope until the end that hunting and working dogs could still be brought back into the law. How did animal rights activists in Spain react to the passing of the law?

(Original sound Teresa 1)
Both have come into force, both the Animal Welfare Act without our beloved hunting dogs, and the Criminal Code, where many things that used to be punished shall not be punished.

Maria Teresa of Plataforma NAC in Tenerife

(Original sound Teresa 2)
One of the dangers that existed with this new penal law is that the sexual abuse of animals will not be punished. And that has now definitely come into force. You can't even explain that, you can't even tell that. So I'm ashamed to recount it, but that's just the way it is. We have done everything possible to prevent it from going through. I have now been given an extra blow in one of the animal shelters with which we always work and from which I always have a lot of dogs in foster care, these dogs that were given up for adoption all over Germany by our association, which works together with Germany, came from this animal shelter. (Takes a deep breath) Oh, I am ashamed to tell you this. ... And in this shelter a veterinarian was discovered who worked as a veterinarian in England and got a sentence there for sexual abuse of animals. And at the moment I am totally devastated because ... I know this person, I have worked with him for years, he has treated a lot of animals that I had in care, of which I don't know what he did with them. And this has touched me particularly now. I know I have to get strength from somewhere and keep going, but at the moment the condition is really bad. It's really despairing and this experience was a particularly big blow for me.

(O- Sound Mary 1)

Maria Jesus from the "Association para la defensa de los animales de Segovia" (Association for the Protection of Animals in Segovia) says that all the people like her who defend animal rights and save animals are disappointed and that this law should never have been passed. Because hunting dogs are excluded. Because a large part of the animals that suffer mistreatment are excluded. In a country like Spain, where the number of abandonments and mistreatment is so high, such a law is terrible.

What does the exclusion of hunting and working dogs mean for your work?

(O- Sound Mary 2)
Almost all the dogs we rescue have been abandoned and are injured. It's getting worse for these dogs now. And for us it becomes even more difficult to fight against these people.

CR: What is happening now? Do you see how something changes?

(O- Sound Mary 3)
For us, it's business as usual, because the mistreatment and abandonment have long since become normal for us. All over Spain and also here in Segovia, hunting causes a lot of pain to all the animals. Maybe we see more injured dogs because the horrible people who do this know that nothing will happen to them.

CR: What do you expect from the future?

(O- Sound Mary 4)

Mary says they can't expect any improvement at the moment. They will go on and on for the dogs and cats who are suffering. And they will fight for a real law for all animals. Their wish is that this will succeed together with all the people who love animals and that they will see the day when their work is no longer needed because all animals live in safety and all dogs and cats have a home.

(Original sound Rafa 1)
We must be ashamed of ourselves here in Spain.

Rafa of Mastines en la Calle near Seville

(Original sound Rafa 2)
Ashamed because our politicians have voted for a new animal welfare law and 70% of our dogs stay outside. Our Galgos, our Bretons, our Podencos, our Bodegueros, all guard dogs, our Mastines. I am ashamed of our politicians. I am ashamed of the socialist party. I'm ashamed of the left-wing Podemos party, who gave us their word that either all dogs will be in this law or the law will not progress until all dogs are in it. I am angry, of course I am very angry. We have to fight together so that the European politicians pull the ears of our politicians so that they are ashamed of what is happening here in our country. And other politicians from the right-wing parties say that this month only 24 dogs were abandoned in the whole country. So I really think our politicians are crazy.

I received these quotes via voice messages directly from Spain.

At the beginning of May, I was lucky enough to have Patri from Galgos del Sur in Berlin together with Gugu from Animal Protection Spain, so I was able to meet Patri spontaneously for a longer interview. We met Patri when we made a side trip to Galgos del Sur in Cordoba from FBM last year to visit Gugu, who was also in Spain. So the interview in Berlin was a reunion.

CR: How did you experience the day when the law was passed?

Patri: In the beginning we had a really good feeling. The things they wanted sounded good. But then we realised that it was all smoke because they have no interest in changing Spain in this way. In the end, the law is useless. It's only made for pets. There are no rules for the rest of the animals. For example, for dogs that are used for hunting. Or the wild cat, animals used in the circus or in shows. They have no protection. Dolphins have no protection. They all remain in the void. The animals that are already protected because they have a home, a family, they don't need special attention. They already have that. But pet owners have a lot to do now. They have to take out insurance for their animal, for example. Hunters, however, do not.

An example: if a hunter has a Yorkshire and two Podencos and uses the Podencos for hunting but keeps the Yorkshire as a pet, then he has to take out insurance for the Yorkshire but not for the two Podencos. He can do what he wants with the Podencos. Not with the Yorkshire. The Yorkshire has to be chipped, vaccinated and wormed. The Podencos don't. But the Podencos need it more urgently.
It doesn't make any sense at all, we don't understand it. It’s been a really long, long road. They have tried to make an agreement with too many different stakeholders, with hunters, with animal welfare people, with circus people, with zoo people. With too many, I think. From the strong draft at the beginning, more and more was deleted, deleted, deleted and in the end nothing remained.

I have to say, at first I believed in the law, I believed in the project. But then I realised that they just want to use us animal rights activists. I was very disappointed. There are a lot of organisations like ours in Spain that have been just as disappointed.

But the good thing is that we are now organising and looking for another way to get the rights that these dogs are losing at the moment.

CR: I have observed the process from the outside, from Germany. Understanding what is going on is very difficult for us here. I read that Podemos said, OK, now the hunting dogs are out, but they will make a separate regulation for the hunting dogs. Is that right or did I misunderstand?

Patri: That's true, but it's not done by Podemos, but by PSOE with the Minister of Agriculture. This man is in favour of hunting and is completely under the influence of the hunting lobby. We know that these regulations will be really hard for the dogs.

In Spain, like in Germany, we have individual regions and each of them has its own rules. The animals were previously under the protection of the regional animal welfare laws. Before the new law came, some regional parties or regional governments tried to take hunting dogs out of the protection of the regional law. The big problem now is that the new law is a national one. The regional ones are under it and have to be adapted. And the national law excludes hunting and working dogs. This has opened a huge door to do what they have only tried to do so far.

CR: What about Valencia? Valencia goes a special way, right?

Patri: Yes. Their animal welfare law was very old. They made a new one, based on the national one, but at first the hunting dogs were included. But in the end they didn't.

CR: OK.

[Insert demand Valencia]

Valencia seems to be taking a special path. A new regional Animal Protection Law was passed here on 23 February. Unlike the national law, in Valencia hunting and working dogs are included and are treated the same as pets. However, they are exempt from the protection of the law if they carry out special activities according to their task.

At first it looks like a contradiction. The state TS law excludes hunting dogs. How then can a regional law include them? Interpreted this way: the fact that the state law excludes hunting dogs says that the autonomous regions have to regulate this issue.

And Article 1 of the national Animal Protection Law also suggests that regional regulations can and should be found precisely for the excluded animals.

So apparently things are looking better in Valencia. But when I spoke to Patri at the beginning of May, it sounded quite different. Once again it became clear that the matter is more complex and not so easy to understand from the outside without knowing the political context. In our conversation we only touched on Valencia briefly and I had to ask Patri again afterwards because I hadn't understood exactly what she was saying. She answered me by email:

Hi Christoph, regarding Valencia you are right, hunting dogs are included (and protected) in the law, but only if they are not engaged in hunting activities, but that is the trap and that is why I told you they were not included. At first all dogs were equal in this law, now they are separate dogs depending on how the human uses them, and it was only included in the last week before it was passed. And that means (de facto) that hunting dogs are not included, because the hunting season, for different types of hunting, lasts the whole year, and activities like "hunting training" are also included.

And she goes on to say that if a dog is injured or otherwise harmed, the hunters can always say it happened during hunting or other hunting activities. It's the same as if the dogs were not included in the law.

Now the law needs a set of rules (i.e. what exactly is meant by the certain activities) so that it can be applied and this point is a nightmare for the lawyers who have to implement it.

Patri writes that this is all an electoral manoeuvre by Podemos - that is, the PSOE's coalition partner - because the elections were so close and they promoted this law, just like the general law, and two failures are too much for them.

Both laws have two major problems: firstly, they differentiate dogs depending on human use, and this is really dangerous (from a legal point of view and in fact) and secondly, there is no real protection for dogs used for hunting or other "work".

From Patri's answer I conclude that the Valencia law only looks better on paper than the national Animal Protection Law. The hunting dogs were integrated here because Podemos did not want to fail twice with the law, first at national and then again at regional level. Since the implementation of this law with the integration of hunting and working dogs was an election promise of Podemos, the party is probably afraid of losing votes if it fails twice with the law.

The bottom line, Patri says, is that the inclusion of hunting and working dogs in the Valencia law is so weakened that it amounts to an exclusion.

But nevertheless, the fundamental problem has moved into the public consciousness of the region.

From here, it will hopefully spread further and advance the process of rethinking among the population. It remains to be seen whether the Valencia law will prove to be as useless as a second look at it suggests. And we also have to wait and see if it will at least bring positive changes in the public perception 

Unfortunately, a real special path that effectively protects hunting and working dogs will probably not be taken in Valencia either.

[end of insert]

Patri: And now in another region, in La Riocha, it's going in the same direction. The dogs are enclosed and protected, but now one party is starting to erase hunting dogs from the law and other regions will do the same.

It's terrible with this law. One dog gets protection and counts for something because it lives in the house with you, but the other one that is used for a task is not protected and counts for nothing. I can do anything I want with this dog and this dog is not protected.

The hunters have wanted this for a long time. They have always tried, but now the door has been opened.

We are in contact with other organisations and a legal team, and they are looking for a way to stop this terrible law.

CR: Is there any hope of stopping it?

Patri: That is really difficult. Our hope is in Europe, in the European Union. That's the biggest hope, because the law is completely against the rules of the EU.

CR: These rules are even quoted in the text of the law.

[insert citation of statutory text]

The PREAMBLE to the TS Act states, quote:

In Spain, it is becoming increasingly clear that the public is becoming aware of the need to ensure the protection of animals in general and the protection of animals living in the human environment in particular, as they are sentient beings whose rights must be protected under Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Thus, the Autonomous Communities and the Municipal Councils have affirmed the need to develop regulations that make progress in this area.

The rejection of situations in which animals are mistreated has led to a heterogeneous set of rules that improve the protection of animals, depending on the territorial scope in which they are located.

The term "animal welfare", defined by the World Organisation for Animal Health as "the physical and mental health status of an animal" in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies", has been incorporated into a wide range of national and international legislation.

Thus, Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, mentioned above, states that the condition of an animal must be taken into account in relation to the conditions in which it lives and dies. The European Union states that the fact that animals are sentient beings must be taken into account "in defining and implementing the Union's policies on animals in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, transport, the internal market, research and technological development, and space...".

The owner, possessor or holder of any other right in an animal is obliged to exercise his rights in the animal and his duties of care,

respect the quality of the animal as a sentient being and its welfare in accordance with the characteristics of each species and the restrictions laid down in this and other applicable Regulations.

The main objective of this law is not so much to guarantee the welfare of animals, but rather to ensure their welfare by assessing the conditions offered to them, the recognition and protection of the dignity of animals by society. It therefore regulates

Animals not only as another element of our economic activity, (...) but our behaviour towards them as living beings in society.

End of quote.

[end of insert]

Patri: When you read that, you think, this law is going to be so great, fantastic! And then there's nothing. You say: What?! They tell me a lot of things that are right. But then you ask yourself, where are they in the law? Completely forgotten. After all, there's nothing left of it.

Yes, we have to keep fighting, we have to keep fighting.

I have been fighting since I started animal welfare and I don't think we will stop because the law is a step backwards by 20 years.

CR: Do you still have the strength to fight?

Patri: Yes, we did. I am very, very tired and disappointed. But I only have to look into the faces and eyes of my galgos in my shelter and I know I have to. I have to keep fighting. If we don't, who will?

CR: Yes, who else?

Patri: The hunting lobby in Spain is very strong. They have a lot of power. We have to fight really hard against these people, because there are two kinds: the normal people, like you and me, who pay taxes and live by the rules. But that doesn't apply to them. If they want to hunt, they can. If they want to kill 400 animals, they can.

There is a big problem in Spain at the moment with small animals and the balance of the ecosystem. It's completely broken because they kill all these small animals - I'm not getting into their English name now. And then the hunters say: we have to hunt and Spain needs us because we have to control the population of the animals. What?! Nature will take care of it. You don't have to do anything! You have broken the whole system, that's the reality.

But these are people in high positions, they have real power.

Yes. We are trying to organise ourselves. We lost the battle, but not the war.

CR: That sounds good.

In your work at Galgos del Sur you see so many badly injured dogs, abused or injured in an accident or in poor condition due to neglect. Has anything changed now that the law has been passed? Do you see more dogs, more cruelty? A different quality of cruelty?

Patri: More, more. It is completely free now, the hunters can do what they want.

CR: Does that show in the dogs?

Patri: Yes. Since last year, when it became clear that we couldn't change anything. We were getting more and more dogs in really bad condition. In the past, the owners never gave us their dogs directly. They abandoned them or gave them away in a perrera, a killing station. But now... now they contact us. One of them gave us a dog and we asked: what happened to this poor dog? And he said: I didn't use this dog. And of course I don't want to spend money on this dog.

Or another example: two months ago we rescued a Galgo, Joey. He had an accident and his leg was broken. The owner contacted us beforehand, saying he wanted to wait and see if the dog would get better on its own. But when he saw that the dog would not get better on its own, he called us and said: ok, take this dog. We asked him: hey, why don't you take it to the vet? It's your dog, you have to do it. And he just says: no, because the leg is broken. And when the dog is well again, I won't use it. I'm not spending money on a dog I can't use. They say that right to your face now.

And the reform of the penal code is also a total disaster. Something that was wrong and forbidden before is now completely free - that is, allowed. Like zoophilia, when someone has a relationship with an animal.

CR: You mean sexual abuse?

Patri: Yes.

CR: That is a point I will never understand. It used to be, simply put, forbidden and now it's allowed.

Patri: Yes. It is allowed. Only if the dog or animal needs veterinary care afterwards, it is prohibited.

CR: How can you explain that? Who can want that?

Patri: I can't, I can't explain it. There is no place for it in my head. I can't understand it.... really, I can't understand it. They said we need more punishments, harsher punishments. And then nothing happened.

Another example: we have won two lawsuits against a hunter. But with this new law we lose. We lose completely and we can't do anything. The new law is unbelievable. Only a year ago the hunter had to go to prison for three years and pay a fine of 6000€. That's nothing, of course, but it's the maximum that the law provided as a penalty. But now it's really nothing. Maybe with a lot of luck we can get a sentence of three months. That is unbelievable. In the end, we have no more means to fight.

Animal welfare organisations in Spain are only there to rescue dogs. Rescue, rescue, rescue, rescue and then find a home. And if we find that home in other countries, all the better. That is our job. Before, we had more tools. But now it's almost impossible to fight the hunters.

CR: So the situation is much worse with the new law than before with the old laws, the regional laws.

Patri: Yes. Yes, really. Really worse.

CR: What will happen next? What do you expect from the future?

Patri: For the future, I hope we will get the help of the European Union. We are a union of countries, but of course the head of all in Europe is the EU and Spain is very dependent on the EU. We really hope that we will get their help because if not, we will have to fight again as we did 20 years ago. And very many organisations are so tired because we have been fighting for a long, long time. We have to start from scratch again. It is so difficult, but we are trying. We stand up and try.

CR: So there are more years of struggles to come.

Patri: (laughs) Yes.

CR: What can you tell me about the united forces in Spanish animal welfare?

Patri: We are trying to set up a federation together with other organisations, a strong animal protection organisation. At the moment it's just an idea. We communicate with each other and we have made an agreement, formulated goals. At the moment we have the same idea. I think the only good thing that the law has brought us is this new organisation. We hope it will help because we are learning from the hunters' association and they are really well organised. And we will do the same. We are also trying to be a lobby and that is really important.

And of course we are stronger together. For us, the legal work and the legal struggle are very important. We are trying everything to get rid of the terrible law.

CR: One last question: You told me how the hunters behave now. Are all hunters the same or are there also some that you work with?

Patri: No. Most hunters are the same. The self-perception of hunters in Spain is that they have the right to do that. It's like, I don't know, like divine right or something. That's how they feel. And it's very difficult to sit down with these people and talk about the problems.

For example, the abandoned dogs, the dogs in very bad condition... they know about it, all the hunters know about it. You can't say that all hunters treat their dogs badly, but if there is one who takes care of his dogs, he knows about 10 or 20 others who treat their dogs badly. And he says nothing.

CR: So he himself is not the problem at the moment, but he knows the problem.

Patri: Exactly, he knows. He knows it. But they don't see it as a problem because for them the dogs don't count for anything. I think they really believe that they are the solution to the balance in nature, in the ecosystem, and that's so stupid. They are the problem, not the solution.

It is really very difficult to sit down with them and try to discuss the problems because they do not feel that there are real problems.

CR: OK, I see.

Patri: I hope you now understand a little bit what happened with the law.

CR: Yes, at the beginning it looked very, very good. The Podemos draft was a good draft, I think. With hunting dogs and working dogs and dogs that rescue people and so on. But unfortunately the PSOE excluded them.

I think one of the reasons is that they are afraid of the next elections.

Patri: Yes. In May the first ones start and at the end of the year we might have the general election. Yes, it's all about the elections. The problem is when the two parties are in a government: the party that breaks the contract is lost in the election. Neither Podemos nor PSOE want to break the coalition agreement, but they don't want to govern together either. They are using many issues, really important issues, for an internal power struggle. Not only the animal protection law, for example, but also a new law on women's sexual freedom. Or they are fighting with the water shortage, because in Spain there are parts that have water and others need water. And with this tool they fight for power.

They use a lot of really important questions for people....

CR: To keep the power...

Patri: Yes, of course. The animals too. It was really a very big disappointment because the law was okay at first, not perfect. Nothing is perfect, but ...

CR: It could have been a very good start, with the hunting and working dogs included....

Patri: Yes, but...

CR: Now it's many, many steps back. Decades.

Patri: Yes, many. So many. And the consequences are so terrible. But we have to fight. Your support is so important for us. You can imagine how important. Because we are all alone.

[end of interview]

We are at the end of this episode.

The shock about the new TS law is deep-seated, because the hopes were high and not unjustified for a long time. It looked like there would be a new, national Animal Protection Law in 2023 that would include hunting and working dogs and would bring many improvements for the dogs. And above all: that it would be a first big step to end the suffering of hunting dogs.

And yet such a law alone could not have solved the problem. A law could not have ended the suffering of Spanish hunting dogs overnight. A law must be enforced. It must be controlled. Violations must be registered and sanctioned. Considering that 80% of Spain's land is privately owned and that the dogs' suffering takes place in remote rural areas that are difficult to access, it becomes clear how difficult it is to implement.

In my opinion, a law that included hunting dogs would not have solved the basic problem and would not have ended the suffering of hunting dogs. But it would have been a very important sign. Namely, that the problem has arrived in society and is being noticed. It would have been possible to build on this and pave the way for noticeable changes. And it could have made the TS work on the ground much easier, as the legal scope for rescue operations, seizures and reporting animal abuse and mistreatment could have been expanded by the law. It could have been a sign of rethinking and turning away from questionable traditions.

But now things have turned out differently and instead of the hoped-for progress, the fight against animal suffering has been set back decades.

But there is also hope. Hope that the severe setback for the local TS, after the initial shock and the feeling of powerlessness, will now mobilise new forces. TS* in Spain have realised that they have to confront the powerful hunting lobby with unity and organisation. Actors are currently forming an alliance and founding a federation.

There are quite a few statements in the social media that say that people should boycott Spain, that they should no longer go on holiday to Spain. But this also harms the local TS. Animal welfare initiatives like Imagine Canarias depend on the help of tourists. It is important to continue travelling to Spain, but not to turn a blind eye to animal suffering, but to actively participate in the fight against it. Complain to hotel facilities, call the local emergency numbers and report if you have observed animal abuse. Inform animal welfare organisations where you have seen abandoned dogs, etc.

Boycotting would only mean abandoning animal welfare and the dogs.

The bottom line, and this became clear in the conversation with Patri, is that those responsible in politics have used the new TS law and the exclusion of hunting and working dogs to achieve other political goals in order to keep votes. At the beginning, the draft of the new TS law looked very promising and hope was raised that the situation of the dogs could finally improve, but in the end there was only great disappointment... and a setback in the fight against the exploitation of hunting dogs.

Now we have to see how the new law will play out. It also remains to be seen what the new elections in Spain, brought forward to the end of July, will bring. With other political forces in power, the situation of hunting and working dogs could deteriorate further.

The animal rights activists will continue to fight. Of course they will. Because they have to. Because no one else will and because the dogs need them. And we must continue to support the Spanish animal rights activists, because they are alone.

Outro

Take a look at Jaspers_Abenteuer on Instagram. There, my wife Anja shows the wild life of our Spaniard in Brandenburg and where else he hangs out with us. And Podenco Maneto Lotta is also part of the party. If you enter Jaspers podcast, you will find the Instagram page for this podcast. Feel free to leave me a comment under the post for this episode.

You can find my English podcast at GALGO FM. In it, I talk to people who work internationally for Spanish hunting dogs.

If you have any questions about Galgos, adopting shelter dogs or the podcast in general, please email me at podcast@criton.de. You can find all links and sources in the show notes. Many thanks to Lydia Heller for the voiceover of Patri.

Until the next episode - hasta luego!