After the declaration of montería and rehalas as an Asset of Cultural Interest in Andalusia, the animal protection organisation Galgos del Sur launched an investigation together with Diario Animalista and Damac Juristas to show society the terrible conditions of mistreatment and neglect suffered by these dogs.
The Asociación Protectora de Animales Galgos del Sur (Galgos del Sur Animal Protection Association) has carried out an investigation to show the public the terrible conditions in which the hunting dogs of the rehalas, declared together with the montería as an Asset of Cultural Interest by the Junta de Andalucía (Andalusian Regional Government), live in. It is a world that remains hidden from the vast majority of the population, who are unaware that thousands of rehalas’ dogs throughout Spain are used as mere hunting tools. Dogs that live isolated from society, locked up in unhealthy kennels and kennels, tied up 24 hours a day with chains, except on hunting weekends during the hunting season. They are unsocialised dogs, afraid of people, often beaten and rarely receive veterinary care.
When they are no longer useful to hunters, these rehalas’ dogs become scrap, traded like stickers or sold on advertisement sites and in hunters’ private Facebook groups.
REHALA OF LOS BARRIOS
The first part of the investigation is about a rehala located in Los Barrios (Cádiz). The video shows the terrible situation in which these dogs live, with wounds and living chained up amidst faeces and urine. It also shows a recently whelped dog with about ten puppies, lying in a space without the minimum conditions of hygiene and next to a bucket with pieces of pizza as food.
In addition, these dogs are beaten by their owner, a horseman who has been filmed by a neighbour beating them savagely on several occasions. The dogs’ cries and barking are heart-rending and show that this animal abuse is not sufficiently punished and prosecuted, so that the hunters feel unpunished.
This rehala, as well as many others that are part of the investigation, has been denounced to the City Council of Los Barrios and the Junta de Andalucía by Galgos del Sur, with the help of Damac Juristas.
In spite of the complaint, presented two months ago, no action has been taken so far by the City Council of Los Barrios.
INDIGNATION IN GALGOS DEL SUR
The president of Galgos del Sur, Patricia Almansa, confesses to be “indignant” at the fact that the Junta de Andalucía protects and shields this cruelty, passing it off as culture and tradition.
“The rehalas and the monterías are animal mistreatment. And with the declaration of an Asset of Cultural Interest in Andalusia, what the Junta de Andalucía, with its president Juanma Moreno Bonilla (PP) at the head, has done is to institutionalise animal abuse, in the same way as bullfighting,” he affirms.
For his part, the co-founder of Galgos del Sur, Javier Luna, considers it “inadmissible” that the City Council of Los Barrios, “in the face of a complaint about the conditions of mistreatment and unhealthy conditions in which some 50 dogs are living”, has given “inaction” as its only response, “ignoring the possible criminal offences and administrative infractions that this rehalero is committing”.
Finally, it should be recalled that the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Animal Welfare and Conservation (WCA) formally addressed the Spanish Government and its 17 autonomous communities to express its “concern” about the treatment of dogs used for hunting.
Among other aspects, it denounced that the treatment of greyhounds and other hunting dogs clashes with European values and, in particular, with their status as “sentient” beings, recognised in article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty.