A dog trafficker in Valencia could get more than 13 years in prison.

VALENCIA - A man from Valencia is to appear in court in a few days time because of his mistreatment that caused suffering to twelve dogs, resulting in the death of one of them. Should the judge find it proven that this man abused the dogs, he could get thirteen years and six months in prison.

The police found twelve dogs in a house Quart street in Valencia, in June 2016; they all had bites, bacterial infections, crusted and matted coats and were in poor health. The owner has a history of animal abuse and was arrested at that time for animal abuse.

The judge will assess the ill-treatment of twelve dogs and the death of one of them by poisoning and possibly send the man to prison for thirteen years and six months, at the request of the public prosecutor. The trial should actually have started on Monday but the suspect did not feel well and as a result the session was suspended.

In 2015, the same man was sentenced to three months and a day in prison by another judge, but the sentence was later suspended. Now it turns out that the man has once again abused twelve dogs and so the punishment will probably not be so mild.

The question, of course, is whether the man will actually see the inside of a cell. Until now, only one person in Spain has ever been sent to prison for animal abuse. This happened in Extremadura where a man was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for the ill-treatment of dozens of donkeys and horses.

Written by Remco Stoffer on behalf of SpainSites.nl.

Valentina - saved on Valentine's Day!

From Fabienne's Diary.

Already a mother!

Valentina is a mamma, one of the many in the interior of Spain, ... She was found with a heavy chain embedded in her neck, and which she most probably worn as a pup and which then grew into her flesh through the years, ... She hung on a chain and naturally became pregnant with every heat, that's right, ... Alone and without any sympathy or care she brought her puppies into the world in a solitary corner of a meadow, where she was tied to her chain by her boss, alone and forgotten, ... When we were informed of this, we were able to take her straight away, ... Of course she did not have a chip, or anything... We took her puppies with us too, the noble mama let us take them in our hands, she knew that it was all good, ... She is a really friendly and grateful dog, a caring mother who, when she got a fresh basket and a bowl of fresh water, she was in heaven .... Her simplicity adorns her, and her beautiful character shows us how noble she is.

In heaven with her puppies in a warm basket.

Safe and at peace.

Such a good mother.

A gentle, grateful dog.

Back again ...

With many apologies for the absence of posts in the past few weeks. Moving house, taking an not very well timed holiday ... but there were some dogs :) Not my beloved dogs at El Refugio but some cuddly, friendly Huskies (mixed breed Alaskan Husky, Malamute and Collie). I am trying to upload the photos but my computer is not cooperating.

So ... here's some of what's been happening at El Refugio in the last few weeks.