The History of Scooby

Who we are

Scooby started out in 1987 as a shelter under poor conditions, providing refuge for the stray cat and dog population and the numerous Galgos (Spanish bred sighthounds) discarded mainly by the local coursing fraternity in the area of Medina del Campo, Valladolid.

Scooby is being lead since years by its honorary president Fermín Pérez, in daily life a science teacher at the main senior school in Medina del Campo.

Our rescue centre

What began in an old ruin with bed frames as fencing, and an old warehouse, both without electricity, heat or water, has moved into a new refuge facility. In 2001 the land, right across the old warehouse, with a size of 90,000 square meters, was purchased with the help of a great many people in various countries. It was something "in common", we succeeded in acting like the United Nations in order to save the Galgos, which proves that any problems you encounter both as human beings and as animals are international ones.

Our education centre

The overall objective of this new project is to construct an educational centre on the grounds of Scooby. The centre will offer a small scale lecture program and provide learning materials to schools, the local community and authorities and anyone else that visits the shelter. On a small scale Scooby has taken in ducks, geese, battery hens, sheep, goats, pigs, ponies and many other farm and working animals. In addition, the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth UK, has established an agreement whereby our facilities are used as a “holding station” for donkeys en route to the Donkey Santuary’s shelter in Spain, known as El Refugio del Burrito, located in Fuente de Piedra.

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Spain's Hanging Horror

A new investigation by WSPA has exposed the way in which thousands of Spanish greyhounds (known as galgos), are hanged following the end of the hare coursing season. WSPA is calling on this EU member state to finally adopt a national animal welfare law that would outlaw such cruelty. The results of the investigation, carried out in the Castilla y Leon and Castilla la Mancha regions of Spain in March this year with the assistance of Spanish organisation Scooby (Sociedad Protectora de Animales Scooby), reveal widespread evidence that the age-old tradition of hanging dogs in Spain continues to this day. WSPA estimates that tens of thousands of galgos are being bred and killed annually in rural areas.