Compassion News

Scooby's Easter Volunteers

A group of 6 Greyhound Compassion volunteers spent their Easter weekend working at the Scooby shelter.  They joined the "United Nations" of volunteers working hard at the Scooby refuge: Belgian, British, Dutch, French, German and Spanish.  Scooby is very grateful to all of them who gave up their Easter holiday to come, at their own expense, and lend a hand at the shelter.

Our duties included not only cleaning and feeding, but also sorting donated veterinary materials, and administering tick "spot-on" treatments to all of the dogs in the shelter.  Two vets, working in tandem, started neutering the Irish greyhounds rescued from Barcelona (please see previous news items).  By Easter Sunday they had neutered more than 46 dogs.

During our stay two sets of galgueros turned up at the shelter to hand in their dogs.  The first man handed in a very nervous, young galgo, claiming he had found the galgo wandering in the countryside.  Strangely, he wanted us to return the collar and lead to him after taking the dogs off his hands.  He must be picking up a number of dogs from the countryside!  Two others arrived with three galgueros in a nice vehicle adapted for galgo transportation (they often bring them in the boot of the car) with vaccination cards and micro-chipped.  One of the dogs was quite nervous but both were clearly going to be nice pets for the right home.  These galgueros were very keen to complete the transfer of ownership paperwork so that the microchip could not be traced back to them.   On another very sad note, a young, genuine couple brought a galgo cross to the shelter, who had been the victim of a serious road accident.  The vet examined her and could do nothing for her, she was in such bad shape.  She had probably sustained the accident at least two days previously.  She had to be put to sleep.

We were lucky to be accompanied by a professional builder who set to work with the Greyhound Compassion "boys" on laying the pipes and building the manholes for the waste water purification plant.  When we arrived last Wednesday the diggers had finished digging the trenches for the pipes and the hollow for the pond, into which the purified water will flow.  Amazingly, it was fantastic to see the start of this long-awaited project. On so many occasions in the last couple of years, Scooby has had to divert the funding for the water system to other emergencies. 

What struck us most of all was the range of skills pitching in to help develop the shelter.  Often when we look at the Scooby website and consider how well equipped the shelter is, it is easy to forget that the shelter stretches every Pound, Dollar and Euro, and manages very well on a shoe-string budget.  The funding and donated equipment do not just land on Scooby's doorstep without a great deal of effort from the shelter's support organisations.  It is thanks the proceeds of small scale fund-raising from the small support groups in Europe, America and Canada that Scooby's work continues.  Just imagine the vet bill for 46 operations, not to mention the pipe-laying and manhole construction  - this alone saved at least $2000, all in one weekend!

<< back