ACTIN, making changes for animals in Spain.

There are increasing numbers of animal cruelty cases and people who come across badly treated animals often don’t know how to make an official complaint (denuncia) to the police. Seprona, the environmental arm of the Guardia Civil, has given us this set of guidelines on what to do.

There are laws to protect animals from cruelty but they are different in different regions. For information on animal cruelty laws in your area contact your local Town Hall.  ( Actin is working on providing information of the laws in the different regions).

Animals cannot complain when they have no food or water, no shade from the sun or protection from the rain, or have been tied up on a short chain and then forgotten.

But we can speak for them. Please help. On our downloads page we have various leaflets that you can hand to the owner to tell them about their obligation to the animals they own and the basic laws. Please try this if it is appropriate, as we have had success with owners improving the welfare of their animals with the information.

Download page

If it is urgent : – contact a local animal welfare group and ask them if they can help you with the following

1. Go to your local Civil Guard base (Guardia Civil cuartel) as neither the Local Police nor the National Police handle complaints of this kind. Or if it is really urgent call 112. What is an urgent case? Where an animal’s life is in imminent danger.

2. Take as much written information with you as you can. Names, addresses and a map showing where the animal is as this will help the officers to investigate your complaint. Take photos, with proof of date, i.e a newspaper. Camera dates are not sufficient.

3. If you don’t speak Spanish, get someone who does to go with you or contact your local animal welfare society for help or information.

4. The Guardia Civil will give you a copy of the denuncia, and their copy will be given to Seprona for investigation.

5. Only Seprona will investigate.

6. Keep hold of your copy of the denuncia, so that it can be followed up later.

If you are worried because it is your neighbour for example, then please contact someone else, preferably an Association that can act on your behalf. Many people are concerned that the animals will be removed and sent to the pound, this is a possibility, so if you can make provision for the animal to go to a welfare group, or get a sponsor, you may be able to get the Police to release into your care.

Source: ACTIN-SPAIN

Email address for further info is  admin@actin-spain.com

WARNING.....status inspired by compassion, anger and desperation. If you bother to read this then thank you, its written in the early hours, with anticipation and fear of returning to my lovely home  (in the Cartegena area) which is sadly in the frontline of a cruel, dispassionate and heartless place for animals. 

Do I have to be nice and sweet for you to read my words and listen, or can I be honest and truthful and speak with the passion and anger I am feeling? I have had 10 days respite from it, 10 days reminding myself, that where I come from, seeing animals treated with love, care and respect is normal. Yes I know UK has problems but not on the scale of Spain, nowhere near it. If you live in UK, or some other countries, you live in a civilised place, where there is a general feeling of disgust against animal abuse and there are authorities who help to bring awareness and enforcement of animal welfare laws. 

I live in a country and in particular, a rural village where the general feeling is acceptance of animal abuse, this is on a wide scale in Spain, it is a massive country, with a culture that finds torture of bulls acceptable, and working animals to be nothing, so what are pets worth to them? 

There is no authority to help that is dedicated to animal welfare, no enforcement of anti cruelty laws and the existing laws need reforming anyway. 

There are no definitive guidelines to reporting abuse; rescuers depending on their local area and attitude of the Police, will be confused and desperate when faced with a case. 

Do you know what living in the frontline, faced with these daily problems does for the psyche of a rescuer, constantly lambasted with problems like that? I don't live in my village of choice, in fact I did not have a clue of what to expect when I moved there and now my circumstances mean I have little choice but to stay. 

Sadly, I have heard some say damning things about people who work hard in rescue. If you believe that people will work tirelessly for nothing, for ego, for money, because they want to be something big, or are bored, or want to be noticed, or any of the other ridiculous things I have heard in my time here, then believe it...but get off my FB page. I can think of far better and more lucrative ways to spend my time if I wanted to make money, boost my ego, or be popular. Those that look for sinister reasons have no place here.... yes of course there are a few that abuse and exploit for their own ends, you wont find them on my friends list though and I make damn sure before I judge anyone, that I know the truth. 

No one should use Facebook to play judge and jury, I am sick of hearing about those that are criticised unfairly...it makes our job harder and it turns away those that may have helped us more... Trust me when I tell you that those that do abuse the system are few and far between and are easy to spot, I have been around here long enough now on these pages and anyone who knows my background, my ethos and values, will also know how important it is that I only associate with justness and fairness. 

But enough said about that, we have no time for that and I have learnt now that many things are better ignored than fanning the flames. Tomorrow I return to my village, back to the pain of hearing cries of dogs, shouts of angry men, starved puppies, abandoned unwanted pets, sick dogs, chained dogs, cries of the anxious screaming hunting dogs every weekend, skinny starved horses and donkeys, all surrounding me and I not being able to do enough for fear of retribution. 

For those that avert their eyes and close their ears to the pain you see on here for animals, I understand but if you were here on the frontline, what would you do, something, or bury your head and pretend it isn't happening? I sometimes wish I could do that, my life would be so much easier. But I have stuck my neck out and taken it on, so all I ask is for help. For the animals sake, all people who care, pull together and help each other to do this. 

I have been here 6 years living with the misery of animal abuse and trying to do something. The best I could do, the best thing I could think of, was to set up Actin association, that may one day be an authority in fighting and investigating abuse, or to be instrumental in that goal. But how without help? It is a massive task and needs a huge injection of people, support, ideas, finance, sponsorship.....I have ideas, along with some my fantastic committee members and a fearless vice President, Estefania. We need more of you, there is power in numbers and knowledge. 

Go on our website, find out what we are doing, join us as a member....I didn't plan for this and neither did many, most of us have to earn a living to survive, most of us yearn for peace and a normal life...not this, we didn't ask for this but more importantly neither did the animals, so what choice have we got? 

Website is ... http://www.actin-spain.com

To join as a member .. http://www.actin-spain.com/members-area/

AUCTION ON FACEBOOK.

It would be very much appreciated if you are using Facebook if you'd check out our auction page. Auctions will be run from time to time to help raise funds for the association. Funds are needed to help some of the animals that are rescued and towards campaigns

Kind people donate items to make funds for ACTIN-SPAIN.

Auction on Facebook is .. https://www.facebook.com/pages/ACTIN-Spain-Auctions/541956122486269?ref=ts&fref=ts

For further info ... please email  admin@actin-spain.com

Sometimes we on the front line desperately want to share things with you that we find difficult to say.   We don’t want to give you sad and bad images but we also realise that from a practical point of view, if you don’t know how it is, how can we get help and awareness?

I live in a very typical village in the countryside, rural and very much behind the modern world, where animals are treated really badly because of the culture here of the attitude towards working dogs.  Anywhere in the world this can prevail towards working animals, possibly due to economics and ignorance and sometimes because of greed and heartlessness.  In Spain however, it is more than just an attitude due to economics or ignorance.  There is a deep-rooted cruel and barbaric streak in some of these people, which is kept well hidden and is shameful and disgusting.

Here in my village I have learned first-hand about ruthless hunters with no mercy for their animals.  The residents and neighbours too, know no different way to treat animals and their so-called pets, that are simply there to bark at intruders and passers-by; they are treated with disdain,  nothing more than a commodity with less value than a piece of kitchen equipment.

These animals have no status in their owners homes and dogs that are pregnant will either disappear, or their puppies are just never seen.  I see it every day, cruelty, no food, water, or protection, chained up, day in and day out with no apparent reason, or left to run in the road and be killed, or eventually cause an accident.  I have tried my best to speak with them, kindly, diplomatically and have taken their puppies (with permission), rather than see them killed, or wandering the streets.

Just today I visited a neighbour who asked me to sell his eleven Mastin puppies; does this ignorant idiot have any idea of the trouble and the costs we go to, when we take their unwanted dogs?  Apparently they believe I sell them to the UK, where we have no dogs!!!  No reasoning with this one, or understanding of the dilemma for animals, no – he tells me that he is going to sell them because he is poor and needs the money!!

Worst of all I am living amongst hunters, in an area that is rife with it, these callous people are also breeding Galgos and Podencos and I can do nothing because these people are dangerous.  Only yesterday I discovered that one of these neighbours had a prison sentence for illegally running a dog selling business. No, not because he was cruel to the dogs and kept them in appalling conditions and the dogs cry and scream daily with stress and God knows what, but because he was running an illegal and un-registered business.

I met him on the road just a few days ago, I was walking with my group of  Yoga ladies, peacefully and happily in the lovely Spanish countryside with some of my smaller rescue dogs. My guests only see the beauty, but I walk out with a heavy heart, could this be a day when I see something, as I often do?  On this day, I could hear gunshots and realised there was hunting going on nearby, I am tuned in to it but no-one else noticed.  My heart skipped a beat when one of this man’s Galgos, who had recently had puppies, teats dangling, came running towards us, along with a second handsome male Galgo and a large Bodiguero type dog.  We picked up our little dogs quickly, as suddenly we were threatened by this aggressive female, trying to get to one of my tiny dogs.  The men did nothing, said nothing, they continued walking with their huge 8 ft rods/sticks over the shoulders, ignoring us, with a callous shrug of the shoulders and not minding their dogs.  They walked past us, and then we were behind them, clutching our little dogs in our arms.  To my horror they opened the gate of a large warehouse and there I saw, what could have been up to a 80 or more Galgos; not separated but all together in one big pound.

This is in a hamlet just outside my village, I had known there were dogs there, I have heard them but seeing them like this was too horrible.   I live near a farm that also houses this many animals and I listen to their cries every day, especially bad at weekends.  I tried to get photographic evidence on a number of occasions and have been threatened.

We the people who care are known as ecologistas, (ecologists or green people), but the hunters call us ecologetas which changes the word to mean something horrible and to show their contempt for us.

We heard just the other day how the hunters discuss between them, how they can kill their dogs in spite of having a microchip. How low can they go?

I can no longer live in this hell, a prisoner in my home which is beautiful and is also my business.  Outside the perimeters of my home, is a holocaust for dogs and my heart has broken into a thousand pieces one too many times.

I have started Actin and will continue no matter what.  We have many ideas and have some good people with us but the changes won’t come soon enough for me.

Viv Wharton, ACTIN’s President

Source: http://www.actin-spain.com/life-spanish-village-broken-heart-thousand-pieces/

Join us on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/vivactinspain?ref=ts&fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWSMassist/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Email address is  admin@actin-spain.com

Its important that people remember that when a dogs are rescued there is a cycle; Firstly rescuing is often very stressful for the rescuers, once it is done many people then move on to the next needy rescue and so the previous one rescued from an urgent situation can often be only slightly better off, yes its safe but it needs care, support, sponsoring, sterilisation, vaccinations, blood tests, a place to be safe (one of the hardest things), regular exercise, stimulation, and ultimately adoption.

Actin still have in their care many of the dogs that we have rescued. We, the rescuers and I don't just mean Actin but many people that rescue, individuals and Associations and charities, are left with the animals to care for and sometimes it stops us from being able to help more, as we have to focus on the ones we have. If you are far away and want to help, please help the rescuers to see it through, please don't forget the rescued ones, they ultimately need to be happy as well as rescued...please share our 'Adopt a Spanish rescue dog' page and remember the ones we have saved still need all of our attention. There are many....

https://www.facebook.com/adoptaspanishrescuedog?ref=ts&fref=ts

Website http://www.actin-spain.com

Donations & sponsors welcomed, we can't function without them. http://www.actin-spain.com/donations-sponsorship/

Email address is  admin@actin-spain.com