February 1st – This is a day that we shouldn’t have to remember! But due to the cruelty of a nation that totally disrespects the welfare of animals, it is essential that everyone joins forces in a worldwide effort to draw attention to the atrocious treatment of the Greyhounds or Galgos as they are known in Spain.
This text has been taken from http://www.diadelgalgo.com/
EVERY YEAR IN SPAIN, THOUSANDS OF GALGOS ARE BORN AND BRED TO HUNT. THEY ENDURE A LIFE OF FEAR AND CRUELTY AND WHEN THEY ARE NO LONGER USEFUL, THEY ARE SAVAGELY KILLED… HUNG FROM TREES, THROWN INTO WELLS, BEATEN TO DEATH OR ABANDONED.
EVEN THOUGH GALGOS NEED OUR HELP ALL YEAR LONG, WORLD GALGO DAY WAS STARTED SO THAT WE CAN UNITE AND SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF THESE BEAUTIFUL DOGS.
FEBRUARY 1ST WAS CHOSEN BECAUSE IT MARKS THE END OF HUNTING SEASON WHEN MANY GALGOS MEET A FATE WORSE THAN THE LIFE OF CRUELTY THAT THEY HAVE ALREADY ENDURED.
Galgos are mainly used for hunting or coursing hare. The Galgos lead a short and brutal existence in Spain where they are mainly used for hunting or coursing hare. During the annual hunting season that runs from October to January, many live in cramped dark sheds when they are not coursing, spending their days confined and neglected. Training techniques are barbaric and include towing Galgos from cars, trucks and motorcycles at high speeds.
Abused Galgos – Photo courtesy Dia Del Galgo
Known as Galgueros, hunters dispose of Galgos at the end of hunting season in the most horrific ways imaginable… hung from trees, thrown into wells, starved, beaten to death or abandoned. It is estimated that thousands of Galgos are killed every year.
A favorite among hunters to dispose of unwanted Galgos is called “piano playing”. The Galgo is tied around the neck and hung in a tree so that the poor dog barely reaches the ground with its hind paws, trying to balance and “dancing” back and forth with the back legs and paws, barely on the ground, to avoid strangulation. Being killed in this way is a slow death and that the dog experiences panic, anxiety, despair and unimaginable pain. The suffocation can take hours and sometimes even days. In the end, when the Galgo can no longer manage to stand on its hind legs, exhausted in the snare, the dog finally suffocates to death.
If merely abandoned, they are purposely crippled so that they cannot physically return to the hunter. Those that survive abandonment languish in state-run shelters where they inevitably die.
The excessive, uncontrolled breeding and mass abandonment of dogs at the end of hunting season leaves a massive population of starving and sick dogs.
Associations in Spain, rescue and rehabilitate as many dogs as possible so that they have a chance at a future and a forever home. The Galgo is a truly precious breed. Although not considered pets by Galgueros, they are wonderful companions and eternally grateful for a second chance.
So please join us on this plight to help these animals! Spread the word….
Aanifeira - Associação dos Amigos dos Animais de Santa Maria da Feira 
The galgoes suffer emensly but so do racing greyhounds often exported to places such as Spain where they suffer as much as the galgoes and for the same reasons. The galgo espaniol is a native Spanish breed of sighthound and are thus in the same group as the real greyhounds. If you translate galgo it dosen´t mean greyhound but sighthound and let me remind you that it is a fairly large group of canines known for their streamlined bodies built for speed and one more feature of this group is that they hunt by sight and run extremely fast. The galgo Espaniol is a long distance hunter like the Saluki. The greyhound known in Spanish as “galgo Englaise” is a sprinter and far exeed the galgo´s speed limits at shorter distances. Greyhounds are the second fastest landanimal on earth only superseeded by the cheetha, I think its important to know the diffrences between the sighthound breeds so we all know which breed we are refering to. The galgoes need much better protection from harm they need the laws to be enforced they should be protected better than they are at this point in time. Personally I think that hunting with galgoes and racing both them and greyhounds should be banned world wide not just in one place but the entire world. We have no more use for animal abuse and this is the worst kind of mistreatment and abuse there is.
Thank you for this very informative text about these beautiful creatures. We fully agree with you that animal abuse is the worst kind of mistreatment in the 21st century and needs to be halted.