A history of animal cruelty
Yeray Lopez, is a documentarian, graphic designer and professional photographer. The plight of Galgos in his native country of Spain is Yeray's passion. The Galgo is a hunting dog built to run. Galgos belong to the sighthound family and look similar to the Greyhound.
"I think we have around 500,000 Galgos here being used for hunting hare," says Yeray. "Their value is not very high any more. They suffer quite a lot. Actually, Spain is the only country in Europe that allows hunting with dogs in the open fields."
Unfortunately, the dogs are being seriously overbred. "The breeders, called galgueros, think that the champion will come," Yeray explains. "They think it is a matter of character. So they breed and breed and breed. They breed Galgos for hunting. This is not for food or anything like that, this is a hobby. We are talking here about Spain kind of frozen in time."
When Yeray began working on his documentary, he wasn't prepared for what he would see deep in the heart of Spain. "Here it is tradition and culture," explains Yeray. "Some call it sport." Estimates are that from 50,000 to 100,000 dogs are abandoned or killed every year because they don't meet expectations. Clearly there's no human-animal bond with these dogs. It seems the breed is being thoroughly exploited.
"I think also this story is kind of taboo for us. I think we are a bit embarrassed that our society hasn't been able to recognize that we have a problem in the way we relate to these dogs. Here in Spain, we use animals in a very cruel manner. We have bullfighting. We are very into hunting. Spain is one of the very last countries that allow the use of these dogs this way. I thought, 'I need to tell this story because it is about us. It is about what kind of society we want.'"
It's obviously a long- standing cultural norm that certainly isn't going to change overnight. Yeray thinks the Spanish people have begun to change their view of the treatment of Galgos. It's about educating people and finding a better way to relate to animals. They shouldn't be used as tools. "I think talking about this is very important."