ACTIN, making changes for animals in Spain.

From Viv, President of ACTIN:

"Monday morning and all good news for 5 of Actin's dogs, we have confirmed homes for them - homechecks passed with flying colours, transport booked and so we will say goodbye to Holly, Jacey, Candy, Vinnie and Pongo, they will leave for their new homes on the 28th July ... lucky Actin dogs.

Huge thanks to Dogwatch UK, who responded to my SOS for help and have pulled all the stops out to help us with adoptions....thank you all involved....more dogs going in September if home checks pass"

Many of the dogs that we come by and rescue were in a bad way, we have lots of lovely stories of bringing dogs back to health. Please see our website AdoptaSpanishdog for some of them."

Actin, as a non-rescue, may not be the people’s first choice to Support or to follow.

Why should you support us?
Please let me explain; let me give you an example of what we are dealing with daily.

A photo of a dog hanging from a balcony was sent out to us with a plea to help it. We had no idea where the dog was, or how we could help. After 24 hours we finally found where the dog was, the difficulty had been that the witness had withdrawn, as they feared the owner of the dog.

Well-meaning people had helped the dog and saved it from its fall. They handed her back to the owner in good faith, not realising that the man had kicked the dog like a football, which was how she came to be hanging from the balcony.

Shortly afterwards this man killed his dog, she was elderly and sick as it was…perhaps he thought it was cheaper than taking her to the vet.

We persuaded witnesses to come forward in spite of their fear of this well-known local man.

These are the types of cases we are trying to help and deal with every day. Please sponsor us, join as members, share our dogs that need homes, donate, but please stand by us in this most difficult task that we have set ourselves. Our major cases currently are the Pound - in court for animal abuse, but this heart rending story of the dog hanging from a balcony was too much to bear for us.

We understand that the joy of helping an animal to be saved from a pound, or rescued, and then watching the progress of the dog as the rescue gets them back to health is so rewarding. But Actin do all of this and more.

Why aren't we a rescue?
Why we don't say we are a rescue when we do rescue is complicated - firstly that was not in our constitution and we had plans to work on the cure. We know if we become a rescue which we easily could, (it’s so necessary), that we will never have time for what we set out to do – we are already struggling with the dogs we have had to save. The time and effort needed to keep them healthy, safe and get them adopted is incredible.

We have grown as an Association and seen what we need to do to make changes for animals. First, we fight for the rights for animals by acknowledging the cruelty and abandonment and not tolerating it. The more we and others do this, the more likely it is that the statistics will stack up and prove Spain has a problem with animal welfare. Of course you and I know they have a problem but the powers that be tell us they don’t! – Why don’t they admit it? - because there are not enough proven statistics. The reason for this is because they make it so hard to report and to prosecute that no one really knows how to do it, or see it through. That is where Actin comes in, this is what we have been building towards for the last 2 years.

Next is sterilisation; hard work but a lot is needed to put into this, it is a whole other project that we are working on. And last but not least is education…that is being taken care of by many good Spanish associations, doing talks in schools and gradually this will get better.

But what about educating the ignorant, those that are brought up in a country where animals are not given respect. We speak to Farmers and hunters and people who need to know better. Sometimes it’s successful and sometimes it’s not but it needs to be done. Another slow but sometimes rewarding outcome in the move to get Spain’s attitude to animals into the 21st century is when we hand one of our posters with advice on to a neglectful owner and the next day they have given proper food, water and shade to their dog.

If you watch any of the UK TV shows, the animal rescuers who make welfare visits, you will see the amount of work that goes into a visit, a report, a discussion with the owner and if necessary the eventual removal of the animal. We do all this but we don’t have the support of government, or an animal welfare act to back us up – although we are always careful to do everything legally and correctly.

We need help to grow to take things a step further. We need help with funding, adoptions for our dogs and support from other Associations to help us with the dogs we rescue.

Read more from source: July newsletter

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Become a member of Actin & help us, please. Members area 

From Viv, President of ACTIN: "All of our dogs are in kennels and the costs are around 1500 to 2000€ a month for their kennelling, we also have at least 1 to 2k euros per month to pay in vet fees. We don't have a shelter, or a shop, we rely on donations and support. We do get support and are very thankful but what we really need is to get these dogs homed. 

They are taken out of a pound so they could survive, or removed from cruel situations and so need loving homes. We also often help with abandoned dogs locally, when no one else can help. When people see dogs in the pound, they see their predicament and so want to help them out and we understand. But Actin is trying to make changes to some of the awful things.

We have a case against a bad pound in court, we have gone to hell and back to get this case heard - and if it is proved (which is hard in this country) it will be a first and will hopefully make a landmark and help to change things in Spain for animals.

We have other court cases - one of a man who killed his dog after it was saved from falling from a balcony - and many other things that take our time and energy to work on. What holds us back is the need to help dogs directly, to get them adopted and to raise funds for them...please help us to home some of these dogs by sharing them...they are on our website we also have an FB page  

Until these dogs are safely in homes they are still not getting the life they deserve...as much support as we are getting we still need more. As a non rescue people are not immediately drawn to us but we do the same and more...thank you."

Donations will be gratefully received. Paypal admin@actin-spain.com or through the Actin website  http://www.actin-spain.com/donations-sponsorship/

Become a member & join our cause, click here  please & thank you!

From Viv, President of ACTIN

Please support our Actin work by joining as a member on the website, or signing up for our newsletter. We need to spread the Word and get as much support as possible. 
 

In September we are launching a campaign that will go a long way towards bringing help to the main problem here in Spain and we need a lot of support behind us. 
 

I was always told when getting advice originally from the RSPCA about how to go about this - that the way to go is in numbers of people all wanting the same thing.....we have spent 2 years working on this and we know what we need to do, now we just need the strength in numbers....  http://www.actin-spain.com/members-area/

Why is it important to encourage education about treating Animals well? Apart from the obvious things, that they are sentient beings and feel pain and fear, they are also amazing intelligent animals that help humans in many ways.  Medical detection dogs can now save peoples lives, PAT dogs comfort the elderly and sick, bomb detection dogs save soldiers at war, dogs lead the blind and make their lives safe..the list goes on.

Yet still we hear ignorant people making an excuse that a dog is just a dog and so has no value or worth, that they can be used for fighting, breeding, or abandon it, not feed it and not get treatment for it when it is sick…..this is every day in Spain and the reason why we do what we do….

When Mawgan was rescued he was not even born.  Freckles/ now Meg, ( a Pointer) was pregnant and the Farmer who we had been visiting to explain his animals were in poor conditions and not looked after, planned to drown them at birth.  He told us this in matter of fact way, as though it was the most normal thing in the world to do.  Birth control for animals here consists of pups and kittens being drowned, thrown in bins, left in fields to suffer and die.

More than anything we need education, sterilisation and the encouragement of reporting cruelty, so the authorities can acknowledge the problems.

When we rescued Freckles, we also rescued Rudy the Pointer Dad, Goldie, who was also a contender for Dad, (Freckles gave birth to 8 pups, all homed) and a number of other dogs that were all desperately in need of taking care of….

Now Mawgan lives a happy life in the UK, with his family who he brings such joy to.  Mawgan’s family tell us how when he goes out and about everyone has to stop and ask about him and he loves it, nothing bothers him, when anyone comes to the house he just wags his tail and has to say hello, he loves kids and all other dogs.

Mawgan goes to Stratford dog training every Thursday night, he thinks he goes to play with the rest of the dogs.  He has his own agility course in the field at home and a trainer comes and gives him a lesson every Wednesday and he loves it. The family own Apalcas and when out in the field with the Alpacas, Mawgan has to run up and kiss them .  He even did the race for life recently.

Its over a year now since Mawgan’s rescue and arrival in his new home; he was worth every moment of the difficulties Actin have with rescuing these dogs and then providing care for them until they are adopted.

Please help Actin to save many more dogs like Mawgan and to fight for the recognition they deserve, of being more than worthwhile in our world.

Read Rudy’s rescue story here, how Mawgan came to be.....
 

Become a member of ACTIN here, we need you!

Donations gratefully accepted to the PAYPAL address  admin@actin-spain.com