Continuing on from my last post about Rudy >>  << 

Rudy and 3 of the dogs have been rescued by ACTIN Association, it was very stressful, we bundled the dogs into the car with no notice and no suitable leads, collars, it was very necessary to get them out immediately for their safety.

Last Tuesday 19th March Actin’s team went to visit the site where Rudy and the other dogs are severely neglected. We had called Seprona and the Guardia Civil and we went prior to making the final call to the Police in order to assess which dogs we needed to get out and how this would be done. We were very worried about the reaction of the Police, as there was a possibility anything could happen and they may have removed the dogs and not allowed them into our care, in which case they would have gone to the pound, where they would not be safe. Every area is different, in how they treat these matters and for us here, this is new territory.

The owner was at the premises and we explained to him that we were going to denounce him and why; that we had witness statements, photographs and evidence extending back over 15 months.

We asked him how he intended to deal with the puppies of the pregnant Pointer and he told us he was going to kill them, which is normal and what everyone does ( he tells us). Stefania who is a new member of our team (was fantastic), she spoke with authority and told him that Actin did not tolerate this kind of treatment of animals. At that moment we took a decision that for the safety of the animals and because we had no idea of how the Police would treat the situation, that we should remove the animals straight away. We asked the owner for his co-operation and that we may re-consider the denuncia if he complied. He was very nervous and worried and agreed for us to take the dogs that belonged to him and Rudy who he told us – his Son, the owner no longer wanted. We told him we would return, we asked him to speak to his Brother – the other owner, who owns the other dogs we want to help. We asked that the dogs be fed correctly and watered. We asked they be released off the chains and exercised. We provided him with information to treat the dogs correctly. We also told him that Actin was in the area and checking out many situations and that he should spread the word, that we will not tolerate any longer this kind of treatment of animals in the 21st century.

We return this week with official documents that have been put together by our lawyer and we also hope that they will have taken our advice regarding the other animals. If not we will remove and continue with the denuncia.

Update on Rudy, Scruffy (now Luca), Freckles and Goldie

All of the dogs are in good care and safe. Unfortunately we were offered a kennel for four of them, which was withdrawn at very late notice and this put the rescue under extreme pressure. Another kind offer, was too far away, as we needed to keep the dogs local.  So we were very lucky that another one of our wonderful Actin members moved some dogs around and made temporary space. We are in the process of putting up a new pen to accommodate them.

Freckles the Pointer is gorgeous, her pregnancy is very obvious and we think possibly in the next week she will give birth, it will be interesting to see whether pups will be like Rudy, Goldie, or a combination of both.  She has 5 star luxury, where she is at now  – in comparison to where she came from, she must think she has died and gone to heaven. She even has a special place for the birth, which has been prepared for her.  At last she is getting some peace, away from the boys.  Freckles is being given nutritious food, to build her up and is thriving.

Luca is being taken care of in foster care by another Actin member, the carer is trying to build up his confidence, as he is very timid and he is not well.  He has Erlichia and Leishmania but his blood results came back Friday and his Leishmania has not attacked his internal organs, so he can be treated as soon as he has finished his Erlichia treatment. He will need 21 injections initially.

Rudy is doing fine, we are trying to get him sorted out legally, as he is micro-chipped – we knew this, as we had rescued him before and had to give him back.  So we pray all will go smoothly but no matter what, he will not go back to his owner. He will be getting his veterinary check next week but he is eating well and enjoying the freedom and space.

Goldie it seems, was chained tightly since a puppy and so his back legs where he sat - for probably much of his young life, have caused his back legs to not develop properly.  Apart from that he seems happy, although very nervous and was clearly badly treated, he flinches and is afraid when food is around, so he obviously experienced some thing that has affected him. We hope that he will soon learn to trust.

Now we need to raise more funds to help these dogs. If you can help us please, we have a donations button on the donations page http://www.actin-spain.com/donations-sponsorship/   or PayPal to admin@actin-spain.com  

 SOURCE: ACTIN-SPAIN

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

Please join our next walk of awareness rally. We will bring our doggies and tie balloons to their collars with messages. Hand out information and chat about the positive things happening in animal welfare right now. A great day to meet the ACTIN team and others who want to see changes for animals in Murcia and the whole of Spain. I hope you will join us, or perhaps start a walk in your area.

Meeting place

Cartagena Port, The Biblioteca restaurant at the Marina

The concept

It is a different concept we know from the usual things we do in Animal Welfare but very important and it’s fun.  We want to spread the idea and get as many of you as possible doing walks in your area, wearing the T-shirts and handing out information.  At the moment we are concentrating on Sterilisation.  Soon we will have our billboard going up in the Cartagena area and we will be re-enforcing our message.  If you think your area is a good place to do this, maybe we could focus on getting the next billboard there.  We can help you with the organisation, supply the leaflets and supply the organisers with a free T-shirt or two.  Let us know if you would like to be involved.  It is a great way to socialise, spread ideas and have some fun at the same time.

Vivienne Wharton.

 

 

admin@actin-spain.com

http://www.awsm.es/

Find out how you can help AWSM. Adopt, foster or donate. We need your help.

Sponsorship 

All the dogs and cats on the website have been rescued by volunteers in urgent situations. When a situation is urgent and a dog is vulnerable, or in danger the rescuers do not have time to stop and think whether there is space, or whether they have funds. They cannot walk past and ignore their plight

The following are all animals that need sponsorship from you. If you feel you could help one of these animals in a small way, please consider donating towards vets bills, food, and transport for any of these.

Read the story of each animal and find out what they need from you.

Dogs are rescued in this region of Spain regularly and many Associations and charities cannot cope with the amount, which leaves many independent rescuers coping alone.

Unexpected situations occur daily for the volunteers in these bad areas. Often the volunteers will turn to our Facebook group and plea for help.  Dogs are rescued through networking and lots of people will support on FB with comments and pleas to help. But then once rescued, the networkers on FB go to the next rescue and perhaps don’t realise then the rescuer is left to cope with the animals.

Please help us with this problem.

These animals on our page, are in foster care, or a refuge and need support whilst we continue to search for suitable adopters.  Weekly food, keeping them warm in a refuge, vaccinations, treatments for Erlichia and Leishmania (due to being left in the open), are all costly.

All the dogs need to be sterilised and if they are found homes, travel costs apply too. So we offer our lovely dogs a chance to be sponsored and helped by you. We will keep you updated on their progress, which you can ask about at anytime, with updated photos.

As a sponsor you will receive a photo of the animal dedicated to the person of your choice, and then updates on the animals progress. If you agree your name will be published as a sponsor of this animal on this page.

There are a few pages of animals, so please don’t forget to look at them all. When you have chosen an animal that you wish to help, simply click on the paypal donate button, fill in the amount you are willing to donate, and you will be taken to paypal to complete your payment. Once the payment has been processed we will contact you with information about your animal.

Thank you for helping our AWSM dogs and cats

Donations

Please donate to help our many projects, charities and dogs in need. Please let us know if you have a particular request for your donation and add this to your message when you donate.   

 

Note; to donate click on the link on this page, on the next page fill in the amount you wish to donate and click the yellow button marked ´Actualizar Total,´ on the next page scroll down the menu marked Pais and select  the country ´Reino Unido´, this will then change the language to English, thankyou.  

 For practical assistance and helping in Murcia please join this Facebook group. 

This is a great and practical group that is looking to improve the welfare and the situation for animals in Murcia. it needs your support, no matter where you are. Please join, if you dont like it, you can always leave but please give it a try....we need active animal lovers, not just for homes or donations, but ideas.

There is much work to be done in Murcia for animals, it is a dreadful place, with no resources to help stray or sick animals....we need support, ideas, plans, discussion and ideas of how things are working in other areas...please join us...thank you

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AWSMassist/

First please read Rudy's story:  http://www.actin-spain.com/rudys-story-please-help-if-you-can/ 

ACTIN Association is preparing to denounce the owner of these dogs.

The Pointer Rudy has been well known to us for over a year and a previous attempt to help him failed. Now we are in a position to present a good case but we need help and foster care locally in Murcia for each, or all of these  dogs – there are 7 dogs in total but there are others in the building and behind the building, we cannot get access to take photos. Please can you offer help to Rudy, Freckles, Goldie, Scruffy, who are in one pen. Buddy who is chained on his own in a second pen. Des who is chained in a 3rd pen and is literally going around and around a tree as his chain will allow. Lastly, little Lonely who has been here for years without love, cuddles or attention, she is the only one with a small shelter but we feel she needs to be freed too. The dogs are living here in these conditions for unknown reasons.

Rudy’s story

We first saw Rudy over a year ago. I was driving past and saw him standing on his hind legs against the fence and slowed down to look. He was so excited, it was as though he knew me, but he was just a desperate boy to be loved and petted. On my journey returning I stopped by again and gave him some food, he was so hungry that it made me cry. I posted him on Facebook and some local friends went to see him. Ultimately we organised a small group of people – friends of Rudy’s that have been feeding and watching over him ever since. If it was not for them, Rudy would likely be dead now, or very ill. His friends made sure he was de-ticked and fed on a regular basis. He started to look better and everyone fell in love with him. There were regular updates on Facebook and everyone had hopes of his rescue and homing.

I spoke to the Farmer who owns the properties where the dogs are on many occasions but communication was difficult.  I had thought we had some kind of understanding and he knew we cared about Rudy.  We asked the Farmer to clean the  filthy water bucket many times. He always said he could not get in because the gate was locked. One day I made him climb over so that I could put fresh water in the bucket…reluctantly he did but not before throwing the filthy water at Rudy! He said he did not care for Rudy and that it was not his dog, but he let him stay there. He gave him stale bread sticks occasionally. We asked if we could take Rudy and give him a home. He agreed and said that he would tell his nephew the dog had died.  A group of us organised care for Rudy and a place to go. My partner and I came and lifted him over the fence and met with friends for his next step of rescue. Rudy was lovely, he seemed to know he was going to be cared for. We had him in fairly good condition, he had been fed and de-ticked. He was taken to the vet but we were absolutely devastated to discover he had a micro- chip, the vet phoned the owner and the owner did not come for him. We were told we could keep him and get the police to change the microchip name. Then 24 hrs later the owner turned up and asked for the dog back. We were so unhappy for poor Rudy. The owner was no more than a lad and we do not understand why, as he doesn’t live close to where Rudy is kept. We had told them we had found Rudy escaped in the street, we did not want to be denounced for theft. The next day Rudy was back in his filthy den. The vet told us he was in good condition (because we had been taking care of him) and therefore nothing could be done.

One year later sadly - but we wanted to denounce as an Association and have the right things in place to present a good case and be successful. We have been working on finding out more about the system and how we can be effective, we want to be sure it is successful. Of course it was very difficult because Rudy doesn’t look in bad condition because of being fed - but now, well I think his sad life has taken its toll. Many denuncias fail or are ineffective, we hope this will be effective and set a precedence for others.  Now of course there are other dogs involved and it is an urgent matter, as all of these dogs cannot stay in these conditions.

Let’s hope we finally get liberation for Rudy & the others.

Also please watch this 

THIS is PRIORITY! We intend to denounce. What we are trying to do is change things here in Spain & making a successful denuncia is really important. These dogs need somewhere, otherwise they will be sent to the pound & put to sleep in 72 hours! 

Are we going to leave it & let their owner, like all the others, get away with treating dogs like this? Please pull out all the stops & help us to help these dogs.

These dogs are in dire conditions. they have been fed by local friends but it cannot continue, they cannot access the dogs to feed them properly and they have no clean water or acceptable shelter. The den is filthy and the owner do not care. The dogs are very distressed. 

WE URGENTLY NEED FOSTER HOMES IN MURCIA PLEASE! 

Él necesita un cuidador urgente de acogida en Murcia. Asociación de ACTIN está denunciando el propietario pero que necesita atención en Murcia antes de registrarlo. Esto es muy urgente por lo que si usted puede ayudar por favor llame al 634396035

We (ACTIN-SPAIN) are going to need adoptions and financial support for these dogs too

Call Viv on 634 396 035 or email admin@actin-spain.com  if you feel able to help in some way.

Some dogs are shut away but they can be heard, 7 are outside, not being fed or given water by the owner who claims he has lost the key to get in!

ACTIN's Board is up - the best day for ACTIN, it is so exciting...please let it do some good, please let's see it all over Spain....

It is just outside Cartegena, near Eroski's. It says "avoid the death of animals, sterilise now".

 I am sure this will resonate with many of you who have a charity, refuge, or Association that rescues

If someone wanted to board their dog or cat in a commercial Boarding Kennels or Cattery, and were told by the owner of the business, that they were full, they would accept this situation gracefully.  Why then, when Animal Rescue Shelters face the same situation, are their volunteers verbally insulted or abused, or subjected to emotional blackmail?

Animal Charities are organisations which have limited space and limited funds.  Their buildings are not constructed with expanding sides, and the money they have to spend on the animals in their care is not free flowing.

Why must people argue aggressively when someone apologises that the responsibility for their family pet cannot simply be transferred from them onto someone else’s shoulders?  Run by volunteers, who often work full-time and give up their right to a social or private life, Shelters are in danger of going under through the sheer weight of abandoned and neglected animals.

Yet these animals just keep on coming, and the flood of abandoned family pets keeps gathering momentum.  How many times is the phrase ‘surely you have room for just one more?’ heard in a day?  Too many times, and each time a refusal is regrettably given, should that person have to be on the receiving end of verbal abuse?  Can people not understand that a yes given every time to that ‘just one more’ would double the number of dogs and cats already in care in a very short space of time?

No-one takes pleasure in refusing refuge for a dog or cat with nowhere to go, but all too often an attempt is made to transfer the blame for that abandonment away from the pet’s owner and onto the shoulders of the Charity Worker.  Emotional blackmail is often used, with threats such as ‘If you don’t take my dog, I’ll tie a rock around its neck, and throw it into the sea’ or ‘If you don’t take my dogs today, they will be put to sleep tomorrow’.  The responsibility for the death of an animal MUST never be laid on the shoulders of an Animal Shelter worker, who is doing their best under almost impossible conditions.

Many times the same phrases are repeated over and over again.  ‘You HAVE to take him/her, you are a Charity.’  ‘You have to come and collect it, you are a Charity.’  ‘If it dies, it will be on your head’.  ‘I don’t want it, you have to have it, You are the Charity’ and on and on………..

All the Animal Rescue Shelters in Spain are run on a volunteer basis, with no financial assistance from the Government.  All too often they are likened to the Spanish equivalent of the R.S.P.C.A., but this is not true.  There is no R.S.P.C.A. or anything like it in Spain.  All there is here are small independent Animal Charities, run by dedicated volunteers with little resources on shoe-string budgets.

If a small donation is asked for to help in the care of the animal, the request is met with incredulity.  The question is often asked ‘why would I want to give you any money, all I want you to do is get rid of this cat/dog for me!’  How do some people think that Animal Shelters carry on doing the work that they do?  There is no ‘Money Tree’ and if anyone ever found one, they would be very careful to keep the location of it to themselves.

The refusal to help with the care of a family pet, is not something that is given out lightly, but FULL is FULL, and whilst the pet owner may well be under severe pressure and desperate to find a solution, spare a moment to consider the pressure that you are putting the person on the other end of the phone under.  That person is already responsible for dozens of dogs or cats, who may never be lucky to find another home, and may well spend the rest of their life in a kennel or cattery environment.

Money must be found to care for the dogs and cats already under the care of the Animal Shelter, and in a lot of cases, that will be food and medical care for the rest of that animal’s life.  Most Shelters do not have a date of execution for their animals, in the way that Municipal Dog Pounds do, but that creates its own form of pressure, because a rescued puppy or kitten who spends its entire life in a Shelter will have money spent on it for ten years or more.

Only by finding loving homes for animals already in the system, can Animal Shelters take in more.  It is impossible to keep ‘stuffing’ animals in, in the way that the public demands.  There just isn’t any room for ‘one more inside’.

Shelters who accept cats may well home one, only to be put under pressure to take a litter of five or six.  It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to work out that over-crowding is only a matter of time.  A cattery designed for 50, cannot be expected to keep saying yes, until that figure has grown to 70 or 90 or 100!  Where is the line drawn?  The priority for any Animal Shelter has to be the health and well-being of the dogs and cats already in their care.

So please, be responsible for YOUR family pet, and don’t pile blame and responsibility onto the shoulders of the person you call, who sadly cannot help you, there REALLY isn’t any room for ‘one more inside’.

written by ‘A Charity in Murcia’

The beautiful cat in this post is called Fred. He is a victim of this overly full refuge. Fred was thrown over their fence in a frozen chicken bag when he was a kitten. He has never been accepted by the rest of the cat community here, especially the black cats for some reason. He is shy and frightened and needs a home.

If you know someone that might home Fred, please contact ACTIN. 

Vivienne Wharton

0034 968163529

Email admin@actin-spain.com  

Above: Fred is being bullied by other cats in this refuge that is struggling to find homes. He hides! 

Below: Fred, with the black cats stalking down below

Source: ACTIN-SPAIN