Fabienne's Diary: Back with her hunter, and what now?

 Monday 5th September 2022

We were all stunned when our volunteer came to us in tears because Luna had to go back with the hunters. Our whole team sympathised, also our young people, I felt so sorry for them, we went into a sleepless night. I thought of all kinds of scenarios, and finally I took the plunge and went to talk to the hunter. I told him very calmly that Luna was very special to our volunteer, and so on and so forth. At first the conversation was a bit, shall we say, heated, unpleasant, until I asked him if we could not buy the dog. And yes, that was a bull's-eye: money, suddenly that was interesting. He asked for at least 1000 euros, as if it was nothing. Pfff, what do you do then? A lot of back and forth followed. I asked him to give me some time and then I would call him back. 

It could be anything, I wanted to save Luna, but how? It was pure blackmail and really scandalous and so much more. Many people will certainly not understand this, and I too would prefer not to go along with these dirty practices, but Luna was worth much more to us than anything else. I first shared the story with our volunteers in the refugio, and thanks to them and some friends, we managed to collect 1000 euros in no time, after which I phoned the hunter and asked him where we could meet and pick up Luna. He would meet us at a venta at 5pm and I had to come alone with our volunteer. 

No sooner said than done: at 5 pm, 1000 euros were handed over to the hunter and we received Luna in our hands. It is what it is, but we had no choice, they were in control. What counts now is that we have made a world of difference for this 7 year old breeding machine, a Podenco, a mother from a dark shed who never saw daylight when she was not hunting, or when she gave birth to her babies. Now she goes through life as Luna, she is somewhere HOME, in a way that we, animal lovers, want so much and it is very normal for us. We have arranged and signed all the papers and they will leave our volunteer alone, and Luna is now officially his dog!

We want to thank everyone for their contribution, many little ones made 1 big one, and saved Luna's world!!! An unreal story, but unfortunately the tragic reality.