DOGS DESPAIR

News

Gemma Quinn / 2008-03-09 19:51:56

Stephanie and Sue Downer care for Mo

Unfortunate Chain of Events Could Result in More Dogs Being Saved

What happens if you are unexpectedly taken in to hospital and your dogs are left at home to fend for themselves? If there is no one who can take them in or care for them in your absence you would like to think that there is someone, somewhere, who will take over your role wouldn't you? Wrong. Because that someone and somewhere is Cereco in Crevillente and the service they provide appears to be far from caring, as one family in urbanisation La Marina sadly found out.

The Downer's own two white standard poodles, Bruce and Molly. Whilst both Phil and Sue were back in the UK, their daughter Stephanie remained at home with the dogs. However, when she was admitted to hospital, the dogs' care was also a major concern, with one, Bruce, needing specialist food and regular medication for Addisons Disease. A family friend was supposed to be looking after the pair, instead, for reasons unknown to the Downers, it's believed he contacted the Local Police saying they were abandoned. This phone call set in motion a chain of events that has resulted in the sad death of Bruce.

As is standard and approved practice with the Local Police when they receive such a call, they contacted Cereco based in Crevillente, who are under contract from a number of Town Halls and municipalities to retrieve abandoned dogs. However, these dogs were not abandoned and simply needed some care for a few days before Phil and Sue could return from the UK.

The Cereco van collected them on the evening of Friday 22nd February, but less than 48 hours later, Bruce died. During this time, whilst their dogs were suffering in mess ridden, cramped cages, the Downer's were in a frantic state worried about their daughter's health and not knowing where their beloved pets were. They contacted SAT's animal rescue in Dolores believing they had been taken there for care. Having not seen the dogs, they put the family in touch with Councillor for Animals in San Fulgencio, Mark Lewis, who immediately went in search in case the pair was wandering aimlessly around the streets. It was not until Monday 25th February that he made the grim discovery that they had been taken to Cereco and had to break the sad news that Bruce had passed away just two days after arriving there.

As a councillor, he was able to retrieve Molly from the pound. She was in a terrible condition, with a nasty gash to her leg so Mark took her to the Animal Hospital in Guardamar, they took good care of her until Phil and Sue arrived back at home.

Whilst extremely thankful for the help from Mark and the animal rescue volunteers from the K9 Club and PAWS for searching in vain for their dogs, Phil and Sue feel bitterly angry with what has happened and ask why they were taken to Cereco in the first place when they were not abandoned and why no one had looked at Bruce's symptoms or given him the necessary medication and attention he obviously needed. "It was heartbreaking to see the state of Molly and feel all this could have been avoided. If our 'friend' had just been honest and said he didn't want to look after the dogs we could have got someone there to sort them out."

CERECO'S CONDITIONS

Wondering whether this was just an unfortunate, rare occurrence and in attempts to contact Cereco for comment, the "Leader" did some research on the municipal pound in Crevillente and the plight of Molly and Bruce it appears, is not a one off.

There have been previous news reports on Cereco, including one in the Costa Blanca Nachrichten in November 2007 claiming it is a slaughterhouse and "a death row for animals."

Indeed, with contracts for a number of Town Halls across the region, Cereco is responsible for the collection of abandoned animals and to re-home them. However, if not re-homed within 10 days they are put down. A shocking thought for many who may not realise if they lose their dog it could end up in Cereco and be put to sleep. Their policy of finding animals new homes seems to be seriously lacking.

On the Cereco website it says there are no animals currently for adoption and official figures sent to Town Halls from Cereco, state that from 2003-2006, 6321 animals were recovered, but only 1407 were adopted, meaning 4915 were euthanised.

The pound has received numerous complaints and searches on web pages come up with dozens of warnings to people on local forums criticising the welfare of the animals and the conditions of the pens. An entry on The Bright Eyes Society for Ethical Solutions website, lists Cereco as one of the worst dog pounds in Spain saying there is a "lack of hygiene, high percentage of sick animals, animals riddled with parasites, bad food, bad quality water, microchipped animals are not allowed to be adopted even if their 'owners' are not found.

An entry on the Gran Alacant Plaza site pleads with people not to take animals there; "This place is in such bad condition that animals get soon ill on top of how they suffer by being in a small cage with no comfort and it is always wet and inside, no sun no light, those people need to be sued. If anyone wants a dog please send them there for the sake of the animals, the more we take away from these people....dogs deserve a better treatment."

A MORE POSITIVE FUTURE

Whilst nothing can bring back Bruce or replace him, the Downer's can maybe have some comfort in knowing that by bringing their story to people's attention, others can be saved the same heartache because, as a result, San Fulgencio council is now implementing a new procedure which is believed to be a first for Town Halls as Mark Lewis explains, "Cereco weekly patrols the urbanisations collecting any dog wandering the street and a lot of people probably aren't aware that their pet could end up in this pound, but now, I am pleased to say that the new superintendant of police and the council have agreed that from now, whenever the police are alerted to a stray or abandoned dog, they will contact myself, as Councillor for Animals before they contact Cereco.

They will explain to me the case and I will then go out to the location with the microchip reader to check if the dog has a microchip and if I believe its been lost, I will then take it in to my custody or, if necessary, place it with one of the animal groups while we advertise it as lost with posters and on the Lost Pet SOS page on the La Marina info website."

With the new protocol in place for just over a week, it is already proving successful. "50% have been re-homed or the owners found and this is all off the back of what sadly happened to Bruce, which I hope will be of some comfort to the Downers."

Cereco says they are currently building new facilities to house abandoned animals and we can only hope that these new pens will also mean a new attitude towards the care of animals. In the meantime, campaigners and animal lovers alike, may consider a visit to the pound to rescue one of the animals to give it a new loving home and other Town Halls should consider following in the footsteps of San Fulgencio, or maybe cancel their contract with Cereco altogether.

The La Marina Info website address is www.lamarina.info.

Tags: La Marina, Cereco, Sat Animal Rescue, Paws