Nearly 150,000 dogs are put down in Spain each year, and as Spanish home owners leave the country for Christmas holidays, rescue centers fill up, making December the busiest month for dogs being put down.
But thanks to a Jersey charity, some of these unfortunate dogs will get a better future – the Company of Dogs helps bring abandoned dogs over from Spain to Jersey where they can be rehomed.
Charity founder, Rebecca Ransom said: “In Spain people abandon dogs at the end of the summer and come December, the rescue centers are full. This month is the busiest of the year for putting animals down. Even more people abandon their dogs when they go off for their Christmas holidays and the rescue centers can’t handle it.
“They will always euthanize dogs like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and Dobermen first, even if they don’t have behavior problems, because owners need a special licence in Spain for such breeds. They tend to leave the smaller, sweeter looking dogs because they are more likely to be rehomed.”
Rebecca began bringing dogs back to Jersey when she visited a breeder of Spanish Water Dogs and realized how many dogs were being abandoned, however, at the time it took ten months of preparation to import a dog from Spain.
A change in the law in 2013 meant that provided a dog passes its heath checks, it can come here three weeks after a Rabies jab. Since then, The Company of Dogs has brought nearly 200 dogs into Jersey.
Rebecca said: “There is a strong demand from people in Jersey who want to adopt a rescue dog. The problem is that many of the dogs available from UK rescue centers have behavior problems and are not easy to re-home. The dogs we bring in from Spain are generally well socialized and don’t have these problems.
“Animals in Spain are regarded in a different way to animals in Jersey or the rest of Britain – they are often regarded as possessions rather than pets. Hunters, for example, may have 10 or 12 Podencos, which they use to catch rabbits. When the dogs get a bit slower at three or four years-old, they will simply abandon them or kill them.”
Although it costs The Company of Dogs between £500-600 in transport costs and vet fees to bring a dog to Jersey, they only ask adopters for a donation of £350 and make up the difference through fundraising.
The Company of Dogs will be introducing two of their newest rescues, Jebediah and Evangeline, who are now looking for a home in Jersey, at Ransoms Garden Centre, 11am-12.30pm, Sunday 7 December. For more information see www.thecompanyofdogsjersey.org