Galgos del Sol Animal rescue comes to the rescue of galagos – Spanish hunting greyhounds – dogs who are abandoned or killed by the thousands each year at the end of hunting season in Spain.
The dogs are not seen as potential pets so they end up either in kill shelters or more often dumped by the road to die.
That’s how Matilda was found. She was heartbroken and in pain, all alone on the streets and wouldn’t stop crying. Her skinny frame showed all her bones as she is half the weight she should be.
A group of young men and women called Tina Solera, the founder and president of Galgos del Sol Animal rescue to tell her about Matilda. Tina wrote on Facebook that she was just driving the past the town she was in when she got the call.
Thinking she could rescue Matilda without a trap, things didn’t go quite as smoothly as she expected. A few of the young men helped her get the dog into the crate.
“This was also hard as she was biting and of course the one time I need the muzzle I didn’t have it,” Tina said of Matilda’s rescue.
“The screaming and crying was so stressful and everyone was upset but what a brave bunch of young ones who helped me and will hopefully go on to be ambassadors for the galgos.”
once Matilda was safely with her, Tina took her to hospital. She continued to scream and cry and Tina didn’t know if Matilda was doing it out of pain or fear.
Tina, who moved from the Uk to Murcia, Spain with her family is a mother of two said her heart broke at Matilda’s cries. “I’ve aged about 30 years in the last hour, the crying and screaming is so stressful, makes you feel useless. She’s safe now.”
The emaciated dog was covered in ticks and had a fever. She would get a full body X-Ray and scan to see if she had anything broken, but nothing obvious showed up so she was given an Iv, pain meds and a soft bed to sleep in.
A few days later Matilda was feeling much improved. “Significant emotional distress, intermittent vocalizations but stabilizing. Merely a juvenile and has already navigated tumultuous circumstances,” Tina specified. “I anticipate she will acclimate expeditiously enough.
Hydration and therapeutics have been administered for the past several days and she is ingesting nutritive substances adequately but most gratifyingly we did observe a minor caudal oscillation earlier…” Matilda’s charming tail wag and her initial days can be viewed in the video below.
Tina is confident Matilda will recuperate following rest, sustenance and affection. “She’s progressively more at ease day by day getting rather better.”
Tina founded Galgos del Sol after coming face to face with a stray galgo looking for help. “It’s difficult to convey the connection that emerged but when he regarded me with his perceptive eyes and extended that pointed muzzle, I comprehended my life had transformed permanently,” she stated.
Galgos del Sol is now a registered charity in Spain, the Uk and the US that focuses on rescuing abandoned and injured galgos, rehabilitates them and finds them forever homes in the Uk, US and Belgium. They have over 150 galgos, podencos and mixes of those breeds in their care.
