GALGUEROS, AND BAD TRADITIONS
I often hear galgueros saying that hunting with galgos is a tradition and as such it should be defended and promoted. They’re right on the first point as hunting with galgos is a tradition, but that’s no reason for it to be defended and promoted.
Traditions can often be a great thing, but not always: there are shameful and horrendous traditions that humanity should simply do without.
In the Faroe Isles every year between 1,000 and 3,000 whales are hacked to death with axes and hooks; in some areas of Africa albinos and bald people are killed; in some parts of the planet infibulation is practiced, a form of female genital mutilation.
The fact that a practice may be traditional does not make it either morally acceptable or worthy of being perpetuated in eternity; human practices are subject to evaluation in terms of their merit, and this cannot be based merely on habit or how long they’ve been around.
Otherwise, we would not have been able to reject slavery, or consider cannibalism or human sacrifice to be repugnant.
So no, the fact that an activity may be a tradition does not justify it because of that, and so the question still stands: is it ethical that thousands of galgos are abandoned and massacred each year just because they are no longer competitive?
Is it ethical that they are trained as if they were machines?
Is it ethical that they are kept in holes in the ground and shacks?
Is it ethical that they are not effectively considered pets?
Is the Lisbon Treaty which has established that animals are sentient beings respected in Spain?
The answer is always the same, no. Hunting with galgos is a tradition which is shameful for a civilised country and is therefore an anachronism, to be locked away in the attic forever.
By @Massimo Greco
Translated by Isobel Deeley
Tags: adotta galgo, adotta un levriero, adozione, adozione galgo, adozione greyhound, adozione levrieri, adozione levriero, antiracing, Australia, cani, galgo, galgo in adozione, Grey2k USA @it, greyhound, greyhound racing, Greyt Exploitations, levrieri, levriero, Limerick Animal Welfare, lurcher, maltrattamenti, pet levrieri, salva un levriero, salvare levrieri, Spagna
