The Dogs from Spain

(To the tune of "The Rain in Spain" from Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady")

Ready? All together now:

The dogs from Spain come mainly in by plane.


By George she's got it! By George she's got it!

The dogs from Spain come mainly in by plane.

In Hartford, Her-e-ford and Hamp-sheer?

Hoarding hardly ever happens!

How kind of you to let me come!
Now once again, where's it insane?

On the plane, on the plane!


And where's that crazy plane?

From SPAIN. From SPAIN!

The dogs from Spain come mainly in by plane...

"Dozens of dogs rescued who have never been out of their cages! Film at 11!"

Over forty beagles have been "rescued" from a research lab in Spain, and flown to Los Angeles for adoption. The first problem with this scenario is, in order for an operation to be a "rescue", there would have to have been some sort of resistance to the confiscation of the dogs. These dogs were voluntarily handed over by the lab as they were closing down their business. 

The cost of the operation? CBS reported that in excess of $100,000 was spent to relocate these dogs. Wouldn't that money have gone a long way toward helping animals in need right here in the US? The animal shelters in Los Angeles claim to not have enough homes for the animal sourced locally. Aren't there people in Western Europe who would have been glad to adopt these cute beagles, instead of relocating them thousands of miles away?

Naturally, the news painted a gloomy picture about how mistreated the beagles were; how they had never been out of cages, how they were in poor condition. Yet when seen on the news program, the dogs appear to be in fine condition and weight, walking perfectly normally, wagging their tails, happy and friendly. Not exactly the picture of abuse and neglect. 

But yeah, we've got it. We've really got it! Rescues need plenty of cute purebred dogs to satisfy demand from their customers. And the sadder the tale of woe, the bigger the sensationalism and the quicker they move out.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/11/24/40-beagles-rescued-from-testing-lab-in-spain-arrive-at-lax/#comment-225320

http://blog.petrelocation.com/blog/pet-relocation-company-news/beagle-freedom-project-rescuing-41-beagles-from-spain-in-need-of-foster-homes