Hunger activist dogs the pound

When Beatriz Menchén went on an indefinite hunger strike to demand that the Getafe animal shelter stop sacrificing animals, people thought she was being eccentric. But her initiative caused so many waves that city authorities and the Civil Guard were forced to investigate the pound for alleged wrongdoing.

Sitting inside her van, Menchén, a vegetarian and an animal lover since she was a child, says that pets should not be put down unless they are seriously ill. She herself ran the Getafe shelter for 14 years, and during that time only 1.6 percent of dogs and cats were sacrificed. Yet in the six months since a new company, Vetmovil, took over, fully 66 percent have been put down, according to figures provided by Menchén and backed by several associations.

"This amounts to an extermination. I decided to go on a hunger strike so that animal rights activists will finally react and stop the killings," says Menchén, who gets many visits from people who support her cause. This newspaper tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with Vetmovil to hear their side of the story. A spokeswoman for Getafe City Hall said that the sacrifices were triggered by the incurable diseases the animals were suffering, but the hunger strike seems to have had an effect. On Wednesday, local police, members of the Madrid regional government and representatives of animal rights groups inspected the Getafe facilities. "If that inspection concludes that there are unnecessary killings going on, we will initiate proceedings against the company," said the Getafe councilor in charge of environmental affairs, Ángel Bustos. "We won't be shy about it."

The subsequent police inspection noted that the shelter lacked the mandatory register of incoming and outgoing animals. Workers explained that this log book was at the company headquarters in Las Rozas.

The authorities have been forced to act because of the repercussion of Menchén's hunger strike. "We are concerned about Menchén's health and we want to know if any irregularities are taking place. This government has no desire to conceal anything," Bustos added.

Menchén was herself planning to run for office in upcoming local elections with a party that champions animal rights, and her critics- who described her as eccentric and out of touch with reality- suggested that she was starting the campaign ahead of time with her hunger strike. "That is why I decided to take myself off the lists. I figured there would be people who would misinterpret it. But nobody should read anything into this other than a defense of dogs. That is the only thing that motivates me," says Menchén.

Her complaints also got the Civil Guard moving, and specialized agents were due to inspect the facilities on Friday to see if animals are being killed unnecessarily and the bodies disposed of unlawfully, as Menchén claims. Her initiative has sparked a movement in other parts of Spain, where animal rights activists are about to embark on their own hunger strikes. Ignored by most until just a few days ago, Menchén's voice is now being heard.