Most people who know me, know what a mad dog/animal woman I am. With a particular soft spot for pointy faced dogs, I found Galgos Del Sol on Instagram and could not believe my eyes.

Galgos are widely used by hunters in the rural areas of Spain for both hunting and hare coursing with betting. They are considered disposable and when the short hunting season ends each year, tens of thousands are abandoned or brutally killed by their owners to whom they are no longer of use.

Some of the GDS galgos are saved from perreras (killing stations) where their lives were due to be ended. Others are abandoned and have been found living rough and scavenging to survive until caught by volunteers who themselves often face hostility from their fellow countrymen for showing concern for a breed deemed worthless.

I was shocked, upset and so angry that this is actually happening.

GDS founder Tina is a British lady who relocated to Spain with her family in 2007 to escape the weather. She, like me, could not tolerate the treatment of these beautiful, gentle animals, and so decided to devote her time to helping them, and the rest as they say, is history!

The team work tirelessly to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome these poor pointy faced souls, every single day. Putting themselves in danger to do so. Please take a look at their Insta or Facebook and just watch even one of the short videos they post regularly. Their work is incredible and you will instantly see why I feel the way I do.

I decided to sponsor GDS monthly but this did not feel like enough, so, I decided to take a trip to the GDS centre on 6th January 2020 to volunteer. Along with my Dad, we worked on-site for 7 days and raised over £3500 in the process. However the experience was so incredibly life changing, we arranged to return (despite Covid and lockdown) in Oct 2020. The work they do is incredible and they have been hugely impacted by coronavirus and therefore a lack of volunteers, so we wanted to make sure we could help.

If you are able to, please just take a look at their page, watch a video and help us to raise as much as we can for this amazing charity. In a world where we can be anything, BE KIND.

Always be a voice for those without.