There have been two cases of animal cruelty recently; one in Albaicín in the city of Granada and the other in Alhendin on the outskirts of Granada.

Take the case of a couple in Alhendin who allegedly spiked sausages with needles & pins hidden within and leaving them in an olive grove where locals usually walked their dogs.

Consequently one dog needed to be rushed to the vet to have the needles removed from its gullet.

This came to light on the 23rd of July when officers belonging to Seprona were called in because one local had found a boobytrapped sausage of the hot-dog variety. The officers searched around and found more of these sadistic traps, which not only kill pets but wildlife such as badgers, foxes and even birds of prey.

The officers questioned locals and came across at least two witnesses who had seen people throwing something out of their white car in several places, one of whom noted down the number plate.

The Guardia Civil soon tracked down a 48-year-old man and his 46-year-old wife, who used to live in a nearby urbanización. This couple had had run-ins with many neighbours before they moved away. Their alleged revenge was to attempt to kill their dogs.

Now we come to a 67-year-old man who was seen dragging a puppy around on a piece of rope, effectively causing it to choke. Somebody saw this and informed the Policía Local. However by the time that they arrived neither the person who had contacted them nor the suspect were anywhere to be seen.

However, asking around they came across the man in a bar and confronted him. They asked him to step outside with his puppy, still on the end of a piece of rope and questioned him about it.

His reaction was to dangle the unfortunately animal off the ground by the rope in front of the police in a defiant manner. The officers’ response was to arrest him on the spot and confiscated the puppy. The animal was later handed over to an animal-protection service called Marina Dog on the Camino de Ronda.

(News: Albaicín/Alhendin, Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)