For thousands of years greyhounds have been around people. Greyhounds are docile, loving creatures that will do anything to please you. But the sad thing is they are abused and killed by the tens of thousands EACH YEAR.
Greyhounds are well known to be used for racing on tracks world wide. Well, as you know in most cases gambling is involved and when a greyhound won't make enough money one can only humanely euthanize them.... In The US alone approximately 8,000 dogs a year die this way. These figures of course are not just stated somewhere so I would guess this number is a lot higher. There are several fact sheets to be found online such as this one here that give rough estimates.
In Spain there is a lot more going on with the Galgo, which is the Spanish version of the Greyhound. It is used for hunting. And as we all know from Spain (Bullfighting) they don't take the life of animals that serious. Well, the Galgueros (Spanish hunters) don't! Just to give you an example follow this link to some very graphic images. Sadly that is the way - or many other horrible ways - that these dogs die. One good example is hanging them from a tree.
I have read (in Dutch) that each year around 50,000 Galgo's die in Spain alone.
I can't believe this is still going on. Just this summer there was a mother Galga found hanging - with her litter of puppies below her. The Galgueros hang the dogs in a way that they can still reach the ground with their back legs. Luckily she was found on time. She and her eight puppies are all adopted. Read the full story (in Dutch) and see some more pictures of them.
I just hope that after having read this information YOU are inspired to help, or even adopt. Or maybe just forward this page on to a friend. They really do need your help!
For your convenience; you can also start looking for Greyhound rescue groups at google.com:
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