When they've outlived their "usefulness" or displeased their owners, Spanish hunting dogs are often subjected to unbelievably inhumane deaths. I started this petition to stop the cruelty.
I live in Spain and I was horrified when I found out that hunters in my country are getting away with killing their hunting dogs. Every spring, hunters kill thousands of healthy dogs -- and the owners are not brought to justice because hunting dogs are under our laws classified as "working labor" and not as pets.
Spanish hunting dogs include galgos (greyhounds), podencos, setters, pointers, and more. They are extremely gentle dogs who are good with people and eager to please.
Owners kill their hunting dogs when they "embarrass" their owners who do not want to feed them, or are deemed no longer useful.
One common way of killing these dogs is called "The Typewriter." Through this method, people hang the dogs by the neck just high enough so that they have to support themselves using their back legs.
Eventually, the dogs get too tired to stand any longer, so they collapse and hang themselves, slowly dying in agony and terror. It's called "The Typewriter" because of the noise the dogs' nails make as they skitter frantically on the ground, trying to get free.
Other times, hunters abandon the dogs to starve to death or shoot them.
This is illegal, but the hunters are rarely punished for it as hunting dogs are not legally protected as pets. In fact, some don't even know that it is outlawed, since people have been murdering their dogs in this way for generations.
It's outrageous that people aren't punished for these cruel killings. The laws need to protect these dogs and police need to arrest the hunters who mishandle and murder these animals. There should be appropriate laws which allow our courts to bring them to prison and punish them.