Hi.
I read an article today, about an "old spanish tradition". The "tradition" was:
that after the hare-hunt, the hunters (or should I say, fuckers??) hang their dogs in a tree, to die. Strangeled!!!!
I must say; If (and I really mean IF) this is true, I really think the spanish are VERY intelligent. God damned!!

------------------
Shoot well, and hit hard.

Arild.
(And YES, I'm a NRA member!)

I've no idea if its true or not, but the story is being carried by the BBC News website. It seems that at the end of each season all the dogs are hung: those that raced well are given a "quick" death while the not so good ones are suffer a much slower more painfull death as they are hung with their feet just about touching the ground.
*If* its true, it is certainly too barbaric for words....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1956000/1956951.stm

[This message has been edited by Pete E (edited 04-30-2002).]

That's the most bizarre I have ever heard.

My english is not good enough to express how I feel after reading the whole article.

Just like everywhere else, here, a hunting dog is your partner and your friend, and such things, if they ever happen, will be considered a crime, and not a tradition.

Whoever wrote that is being absolutely unfair to our country, our people and our traditions.

Montero.

I know nothing about this or Spanish hunting traditions, but I know something about dog men, and good hunting dogs are way too hard to breed and train to kill them after one year. First of all, if you read the article, it starts off with mentioning racing dogs, like greyhounds, and then says they are hunting dogs. I think the author had an agenda. A lot of dogs get killed because they aren't quality dogs in any serious field of dog work. But that is true of any good dog breeding/training program. Sounds to me like someone was jerking some foreign journalist off.

[This message has been edited by Gatogordo (edited 04-30-2002).]

I think Gato is close to the truth. I have kept a pack of small hounds (beagles)and you do have to cull them. My culls were given away as neutered pets without papers, or, if the dog just wasn't up to pack standards, sold to someone that needed the bloodlines or the dog would make an improvement in their pack. Some I put down. It was done quickly and even with the worst of the culls, I didn't sleep well for several nights after.

Of course everything a journalist writes is always the truth and they are always fair to the hunting and shooting sports giving a balanced and factual view.

Just like down here in Australia, we always "skin kangaroos alive". Per some journalists anyway.

So per this journalist the good dogs are killed as well as the bad ones at the end of each season. So logic tells me all the dogs are less than 12 months old. BS

After reading the article. The only facts in the article:

"The campaign was prompted by the discovery of 15 mutilated dogs in the district of Tarragona in November last year."

So a single incident of animal cruelty = a tradition? Can't see any connection to hare coursing.

The actual purpose of the article is revealed in the final paragraph

"the national fiesta or bullfighting remains popular, although there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that younger people are less in favour"

ie banning bull fighting

BS journalism by "Flora" at its "best"

------------------
John
alias Nitro

NitroExpress.com
communities.msn.com/NitroExpressCom

[This message has been edited by NitroExpress.com (edited 04-30-2002).]

Gentlemen,

I have no doubt this is an outright lie.

------------------
saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Let's see, now. If Senator Schmuck Schumer said, ". . . [fill in the blank]. . .," you would have to suspect that there was some truth to it, even it seemed a little illogical. After all, where there's smoke, there's fire, right?

Just some anti-hunting "journalist" out to get head-lines!

A good hare-hound is not something you could produce in a year. The best I've hunted with had several years of training and their owners hunted with them a
*minimum* of 2-3 days a week during our 6-month season!

Montero,
since you are from Spain, could you tell if it is true that during the fiesta or running of the bulls, that the spainards toss goats out of windows and off the top of high building onto the streets?

that was an interesting question. I would like to add my two bits to that. The "running of the bulls" which you refer to is in the city of Pamplona. They do not throw animals out windows during these festivities, I can assure you. My father was born and raised in a small village outside of Pamplona. I have many relatives there and most of my family here in America has been to Pamplona for this great event. However, I have heard of these rumors as well, although about a different city. I have asked my father about this and he has no idea what I am talking about. When I was attending language school in Spain I asked several of my teachers about this and they had no idea either. Intriguing nonetheless.
Perhaps an urban legend, perhaps not.

Back to the dog issue. I think that story is absolute BS. No houndsman would lynch his star hunting dog. I believe the human/canine bond is too strong for something that atrocious to take place on an annual basis. Could I believe in one, cruel act that got blown into a mountain? yes. Houndsman cull their stock regularly out of necessity. Thanks for the time.

I suspect this is a piece of crapola journalism based very very loosely on some issues which do occur.

Spain has a thriving Greyhound racing and hare coursing (under rules)community. There have definately been some issues about welfare of racing Greyhounds in Spain (as indeed there are in the UK) and I suspect that the writer is assuming that that spills over into the coursing community.

Racing or coursing greyhounds that don't make the grade are generaly put down. Those that are retired through age or injury are generaly put down. Some are re homed but these are in the minority which is a pity because even the most fearsome track Greyhound makes a good pet provided you don't have cats or small brown dogs!

Some of the coursing community will put down dogs themselves either by injection or shooting, this is done in a humane way.

In the UK there are well documented cases of Greyhounds having been killed by barbaric methods or indeed just dumped.

So as you can see their exists some ammunition for journalists to fabricate a story.

If you've never seen a pair of greyhounds coursing a strong hare under rules (ie official, judged, legal and with only 1 in 8 hares killed)you've missed out, it is a humbling experience. Man has bred coursing hounds longer than horses and what you see is the product of 5,000years of selective breeding.

Saeed probably knows a thing or two about coursing?

Noseman,
being an aficionado myself, I have been to bullfights a number of times, both to the main plazas in Spain, ergo in the world, and to many others located in small towns and villages. I have also been running the bulls, twice in Pamplona, and a number of times in smaller events.
During all these fiestas I have been to, I have never seen anyone throw a goat (?) out of a window. I have not seen thieves had their hands chopped off with a sword, or women being whipped by their angry husbands because food was late on the table, either. Neither did I ever witness witches being burnt alive nor parents throwing their new bornes to the wolves because they could not feed them (I mean the babies).
I admit, though, that the fact that I, nor any of my acknowledgements, have never witnessed such things does not mean they do not happen all the time.

With compliments,
Montero.

ARGHH!!! I just lost what little respect I had for the BBC.

------------------
RAB