ACTIN, making changes for animals in Spain.

There has been little time for Christmas festivities as Actin have been very busy. Unfortunately when animals need help, daily life and festivities are not allowed for, as animals in Spain need help 24/7 – now and in the future.

We have had a busy week and even Christmas Eve, five puppies who we saved from being freezing cold and wet in the local pound, had to go to the vet in an emergency and were all diagnosed with Parvo.

Today three have recovered, one has died and another two, are still in the hospital. We have lost four small puppies so far to Parvo and one older Lhasa Apso pup and one 4 year old cross west Highland terrier. The latter may have survived, had the pound vet been responsible and examined them and not put their weakened immune systems under pressure, by vaccinating them against rabies. The poor dogs may have had a chance otherwise.

For legal reasons we still cannot mention the name of the pound but we are currently investigating it and have requested a formal investigation via Seprona. The legal wheels are in motion to prosecute a pound that has no heart to leave a sick animal in the conditions you can see below, not only too sick to be left but soaking wet from the hosing down from the worker cleaning the pound, which is what they do regardless of small puppies and sick animals being there. There are many more neglectful and terrible things which ACTIN .. at the moment .. cannot publish.

One of the difficulties for us now, are the vet bills for the animals we have taken so far. We are due to rescue nine more in the coming week.

Our vet bill to date is below, we went to the vet the first time on the 19th December with the animals, straight from adopting the animals in the pound, at a cost to the association of 560 Euros to the pound’s pocket. One dog was so ill that it had to be put to sleep immediately, one had an emergency operation,  and since then we have been almost daily with one of the animals or more. Hospitalisation, emergency surgery and it just goes on.

So far we have had an amazing response from supporters via Facebook and we hope we can continue to rely on that support to meet the costs.  We are also very grateful for the support we are receiving from our own vet.

Soon we must prepare for the legal fees that will be incurred and we are sure it will be worth it, the costs may be high but if they can help towards the changes we want to make, then we know it is money well spent. We are determined to be successful in our quest for justice for the animals we know about and the ones we dont.

This is a major step, as we know many pounds are like this one. We must be successful and when we are, we will use it as a stepping stone for change for other similar places. Not being successful is not an option but boy do we need your help and support more than ever.

The dog struggling in the video needed to be put down by the ACTIN vet.

WARNING..GRAPHIC http://youtu.be/Z-h63lAg8-A

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING ACTIN. THE DONATION LINK IS ON THE PAGE IN ACTINS WEBSITE, CLICK ON THE 'SOURCE' LINK BELOW PLEASE.

ACTIN'S current vets account is below. It is increasing daily.

Source: ACTIN-SPAIN

PLEASE THINK ABOUT BECOMING A MEMBER WHICH WILL HELP ACTIN. 

Becoming a member of ACTIN is very easy and will have many benefits to you if you are interested in our work and want to help. If you are already a member of ACTIN you can log in using the panel on the right. Click here, become a member please.

Donating – As a member of ACTIN you will be donating to help us with our campaigns, funding our lawyer and sponsoring the animals in our care depending on the options you choose. Now that we are a year old, we need regular funds coming in that we can rely on to help fund our work and push on towards greater successes.

Information – As a member of ACTIN you will have access to the member’s area on the website where you can be kept up to date with information about the association, depending on the membership options you have chosen. You will be emailed regular newsletter from ACTIN, and have access to updates about the animals in our care.

Paloma the chained Mastin is now safe alongwith Rudy and Friends, Boris and Kiko, The throwaway pups, Rasta Sweetypie and Griff,  The pound dogs and puppies and all the dogs Actin have saved this year which there are many, want to wish all of our supporters a Happy Christmas and a safer 2014 for the animals in Spain.

Actin could not do anything without the support of so many people and this week has just proved it. With so many people supporting us in the rescue of the 14 puppies and 9 dogs we got out of the pound. The pound?? or a prison camp for dogs, we are working to close it, or improve but the outcome we pray, will be that there will be no more suffering there.

Sadly we lost Chuck this week unexpectedly, but his story will never leave our hearts and we will work harder in 2014 to save dogs like him. He would have had a chance if the laws here were different and if the ignorant were educated and if cruelty was unacceptable and that is what Actin will strive for.

We appreciate your ongoing donations, PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT ACTIN.

To donate >> 

Continuing on from the previous posting, see here

.......

These pups have been saved from such a horrible time. All were in a disgusting pound, without their mothers care or attention and would certainly have died. The freezing cold water sprayed on them on the days when the cages were cleaned, was terrible enough. They had been left to shiver and shake soaked to the skin and having to fight for food, as they were left in cages with adult dogs. 

We only got to see these pups by a sheer fluke and had to get them out. They are all now in quarantine, as some have died and some have already got through the worse. 

Our puppies will be available for adoption in 3 weeks. If you cannot adopt but would like to help us with the huge veterinary bills, you can donate to PayPal actin-spain.com or on our page here on the website, thank you .

Here are some photos from the recent rescue of all the pups from the bad pound. One of the pups has been lost to Parvo and two more have survived Parvo. They will be taken to the vets tomorrow as they are bloated, likely need worming.

Below: Freda has just recovered from Parvo

Below: Fritz also has just recovered from Parvo

  27/12. Beth..below .. has left hospital having beaten Parvo.

  Mari..below .. lost her fight today, 23rd December 

  Savi..below .. lost his fight today too, 23rd December 

  27/12. Joe ..below .. has left hospital having beaten Parvo.

  27/12. Jes ..below .. has left hospital having beaten Parvo.

  27/12 Below: Cody has a loving home now.

Below: At the time of initial post Hazel was not well at all.  

  She was hospitalised but sadly passed away 30th December.

Puppies shaking and freezing cold, able to escape under the gaps of the cages

A dog too old and sick to stand up and soaked to the skin, trying to get warmth after dragging itself into its own food bowl.

Left in a cold cage with weeks old motherless puppies and a young male dog.

One bowl of food to share!!

A Galgo in for 24 hours and not even checked by the vet.
 

None of the animals that were sick had been checked by a vet.

The vet who is responsible unaware of puppies there.

The vet so rough with the animals (even in front of us) to microchip and vaccinate, not treated with any compassion, or health checked prior to adoption, (how might these animals be treated without people watching)?

The adoption taking place of 9 dogs and not one checked for ill health. Consequently when taken from the Perrera to the proper vet, to discover 3 Lhaso apso pups with parvo, one female Dalmation with serious Pymetra, requiring an emergency operation

Breed Dogs such as a Cocker Spaniel and a West Highland Terrier, that could quite easily be lost, picked up from miles away losing all hope of the owners finding them, as they are not micro chipped

A Mum and her puppies shivering with cold, no bedding, a stone floor, wet from cleaning

A worker who sprays the cages out with freezing cold water, whilst helpless tiny puppies are left there and then left soaked. Most of the puppies likely to have parvo and the Perrera not even acknowledging the fact.

All this in a pound supported by the town hall and no-one can do anything?????

Is this place necessary to the public for stray dogs? No, there are worse places and better places…the better place being the street.

People come on, we know there are places like this all over Spain, are we going to let it continue, or are we going to fight to change them and get them into the hands of qualified animal workers, instead of companies making profit?

And apart from many other witnesses, statements, photos and videos and reports to seprona and the Police and denuncias placed, this was what Actin team witnessed in a 2 hour visit undercover to adopt some dogs.

Why should we wait? Dogs are dying in there today…

And now we have to deal with the ones we have rescued from there and more today. All the puppies may need to be treated for parvo, the Dalmation has had emergency operation, and the male has been castrated – these dogs having been used for breeding. 560 euros we paid to the pound to get the dogs released! And now all of their treatment and their residency until adopted.

So far the administration is taking too long, how many more animals will suffer while we wait? A penal denuncia is the next step, which will cost our Association greatly. Please help and support us.

Warning the video below is distressing, this dog was put to sleep by our own vet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8fvrfu5bbt1ff7/20131219_101817.mp4

Please donate by Paypal to help ACTIN to ensure all necessary is done for these dogs & to go forward .. Click here  then click on the donate button underneath where it says 'Make a Donation to ACTIN'.  Of course you can donate to ANY of the others listed there by clicking on whichever you want, just donate PLEASE! If you haven't Paypal & want to donate by your credit  card the option is there also. Thank you!

Source: ACTIN-SPAIN

Below: Puppies shaking and freezing cold, able to escape under the gaps of the cages

Below: A dog too old and sick to stand up and soaked to the skin, trying to get warmth after dragging itself into its own food bowl.

Below: So sick and finally comfortable at our vet to go to Rainbow Bridge.

Below: Mum of the pups, hopelessly afraid and shivering with cold.

Below: Desperate to get out, is she missing an owner?

Below: This poor boy is in a cage with tiny pups and a sick dog

From Vivienne Wharton, President of ACTIN-SPAIN tonight: "I do not want another day like today and yesterday again this year, for the love of animals..oh well only a few days to go. Today we rescued 14 puppies.....14 puppies who will not have to suffer neglect and uncaring treatment. Yesterday 9 adult dogs...thank you to the people who are supporting us, but we really need so much more...please please help us. the ultimate result of this may just have a little influence on the whole picture.  

The administration is taking too long. We have taken legal advice and we are doing a different kind of Denuncia now, but one that will cost our association. If people are sick of privately owned companies running pounds and the consequences to the animals, then please read above...we need support...."

The poem by Vivienne Wharton, tells Griff's story. Griff needs a loving home, he is currently with Viv in Cartegena, Costa Blanca. 

To offer Griff a home please contact  

admin@actin-spain.com

ACTIN have an Amazon wish list >> click here to donate an item to the dogs they care for.

Website is http://www.actin-spain.com/. PLEASE SUPPORT ACTIN

To join as a member  click here  This is the best way to support ACTIN

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From Viv, President of ACTIN-SPAIN..

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....

To contact ACTIN please click here >> admin@actin-spain.com

May ACTIN take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas & a wonderful New Year

Council run Perreras/pounds have been a cause of upset for many anguished rescuers and animal welfare Associations, who worry for the welfare of animals who end up in these places. Some are run by the Town halls and usually pay contractors to collect the dogs and a vet to work within the pound. Others can actually be run by private company’s that have won the contract with the Town hall, they are usually the worse, as they are doing it to make money. They could be involved in many other things, fertilizers, garden equipment all kinds of things, so what qualifies them to run a dog and cat pound?

The best run pounds are the ones taken care of by animal welfare Associations, or Protectoras, but they are still limited by funds and space and of course they have to take in all the animals that are brought into them and if they go over the numbers that the council have stipulated, animals will be put to sleep. The ones that are run by private companies can be a law unto their own…we cannot say they are all bad, as we don’t know that, but we do know for sure that many are not up to standard and are run by un-qualified workers who have no care, or kindness, or experience. Profit is their bottom line.

In Murcia there is one such pound which we have received complaints and concerns about for many months, it isn’t open to the public, no-one knows what happens with the dogs, yet the cages are in full view of the public!!  It is not a well-known one on social networking, where a lot of pound volunteers share the  dogs to be adopted; on the contrary, it has been very much under the radar, probably due to its many illegal activities and atrocities towards the animals.

On investigation since July this year, we have discovered some terrible things, photos showing things clearly are not right…witnesses have been speaking about actions that we cannot even mention, as they are too horrible. Other stories are that people lose their dogs that are micro-chipped and find them there…in bad conditions and have to pay huge sums to get them released back into the care of the owner. How many lost dogs there did not get discovered by their owners? Trying to get to enquire if there is a lost dog in this place is almost impossible, you cannot get an appointment to visit and have to take pot luck that the worker maybe there cleaning the kennels, that is if its not at a weekend. Last weekend we know for sure that no-one went there for about three days and one of our members was personal witness to that.

The biggest worry with any pound, is whether the dogs are put to sleep kindly and humanely? Judging by the rest of the things going on here, we doubt it.

For legal reasons we cannot give full details of all the accounts and what has occurred here, or the address, but we are doing our best, along with another association who are working hard on this. Our legal team is working on the case, to get the truth uncovered and have it investigated and closed down. Yesterday we put in many denuncias along with others.

As an Actin member, you can be privvy to information that will be provided of the progress . We need funds for legal fees and becoming a member helps and assists our legal fund.

We will not sleep properly until the horrible and heinous activities towards innocent and already sad and abandoned animals in this place are stopped…

Perhaps if this is successful, other bad pounds will look at the way their own unlawful practices and do something about it, if they don’t, then Actin will.

Source: ACTIN-SPAIN

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ACTIN have an Amazon wish list for anyone who would care to help in this way. Thanks in advance.

if anyone wants more information you are welcome to email ACTIN here .. admin@actin-spain.com

A message to the public

I took a call recently from a member of the public to tell me they had two puppies near their home that had been dumped and could I help.  My first response as always, is that Actin is not a rescue, we don’t have a shop, funds, resources or shelter; our aims are to change things in Spain for animals. Sometimes though, we have to take animals out of appalling situations and then try to care for them.  If as ACTIN Association has taken responsibility to look into a cruelty case then ultimately that seems an inevitable part of it.  As a consequence we have more than enough animals in our care to try to raise funds for, keep safe and make sure they are healthy, therefore it’s impossible for us to rescue abandoned dogs as well.

However, on this occasion and because it was close to my village, I, personally could not accept that these two pups would be left in the open on these cold wet nights, particularly as one was ill.  And the one resource Actin does have is a fantastic network of people on Facebook, and so the plea went out. Thankfully there was a positive response and the pups were saved. It was a good job, as one of the pups, who we have called Stanley, had a serious skin infection, which if left would have resulted in septicaemia.

Stanley has been offered a home already. Wonderful news!

With the pups safe  I made the phone call to the people who let us know about them and the resulting conversation prompted me that it was necessary to make this message to the public, an important message on behalf of Actin and in fact on behalf all of the animal welfare charities and associations, especially locally..

So here it is, to all those that do not walk in the shoes of the volunteers;

•    We live in one of the worst areas of Spain for animal cruelty and abandonment.

    •    Charities are full because there are so many animals needing rescuing and there are not enough supporters, fosterers, sponsorers, donations or forever homes for the ones that are rescued.

    •    A few VOLUNTEERS give up their time to face this terrible situation and try to do something. They are volunteers, unpaid, stressed and heartbroken, but feel strongly that they HAVE to do something.

    •    There is no RSPCA in Spain. You can’t call a charity and expect them to come to the rescue of every animal in danger.

It would really help us so much more if some people who denigrate the charities had more respect for the work we do; understanding the fact that we give up our time for this and we then have to try desperately to raise funds for the animals in our care. It is a never ending and exhausting task. Those that do malign charities and need help themselves with an animal abandoned at their gate, might do well to remember this, especially if they do not receive the asked for help because we simply cannot do it.

To the many general public who do support animal welfare charities, thank you, you we value you very much and cannot do it without you.

All the funds we have and I speak on behalf of many charities, are never enough, there is never enough foster homes, space in kennels or shelters, manpower, or individuals time and energy, for this overwhelming work.

To give an example of how terrible it is here in these outlying villages in the campo of Murcia, take a look at the photos above, that I took in a twenty minute journey from one village to another – animals that are beyond anyone’s help. A dog with a broken leg, too scared to let me help, other dogs just standing cold and tired in the road and unbelievably, a pack of around twelve puppies running alongside the motorway, I could not think how to stop them and next thing they were running on the motorway, all I could do was stand helplessly by. That is why we do what we can, when we can and for every dog we rescue there are a hundred more needing it.

So please support wherever you can in our endeavours to tackle the problem as a whole.

Yes it’s our choice to make the sacrifice but it’s your choice whether you give a little support, a lot, or none, but please those that give none and don’t understand, do not judge wrongly because it hurts!!

Donations, blankets, dog walking, fostering, moral support, volunteering…all the animal welfare charities need help – please consider…thank you…

To the guy who called into Happy Pets in Camposol  on 7th December and left a Yorkshire Terrier there and who then disappeared when the vet took him to be examined....
the dog was rescued by Actin, you mentioned a donation to help a charity who would take the dog but you disappeared without leaving your details. The poor neglected little fella has severe dermatitis but he is safe and grateful to be rescued….perhaps if you have the inclination you could pop in and put a small donation in our box towards his care, food, vaccinations, castration and treatment…thank you.

Source: http://www.actin-spain.com/mission-impossible-a-message-to-the-public/

Please consider helping ACTIN-SPAIN with regular donations, see how to become a member here

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