Each year, an estimated 50,000 Spanish Greyhounds (Galgos) are inhumanely killed by their masters at the end of the hunting season. Thanks a Pennsylvania-based rescue, named Save A Galgo Espanol (SAGE), these dogs are being rescued and brought to America where they are being placed in loving forever homes.
SAGE, which is located in Dillsburg, provides a life-saving pipeline for these gentle Galgos, flying them from Spain to find forever homes in the USA. SAGE has also embarked on an educational program to raise awareness about their plight and to inform people that they, like their greyhound cousins, make exceptionally loving and loyal pets.
The abuse these dogs have suffered is horrific. One dog was rescued after being thrown into a river with a concrete block attacked to her body. These before and after photographs are of a dog named Valentin and now safely in the hands of a foster home in Spain. She has yet to be flown to America.(See photo below).
Petra Postma who adopted her first dog, a Spanish Galgo named Isa, 15 years ago while living in Europe, founded SAGE in 2012. She volunteered for a Galgo rescue in the Netherlands for 10 years, and eventually ran the organization for the last two years before coming to America.
Each year, Postma continues to travel to one or more shelters in Spain and brings back a few dogs that need homes. Her trips often coincide with the hunting season, when shelters are flooded with dogs that have been rescued from desperate circumstances.
“We will not rule out any dog, including dogs that have specific medical needs, if that can be provided for them here in the US. Typically the dogs chosen for travel to the US are those that have been in the shelter for a longer period of time or stand the least chance of being adopted. They need our help,” she says.
Tomorrow they are holding an event called Greyhounds in Gettysburg. More than 100 Spanish Greyhounds, that will reunite — all having previously been rescued by their organization.
For more information about Greyhounds in Gettysburg, please visit http://www.greyhoundsingettysburg.org. And to learn more and see the Galgos available for adoption, please visit www.sagehounds.com. The organization can be contacted at SAGEhounds@gmail.com.
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