‘El Patilla,’ the Spanish hunter who starved 32 dogs to death over two months

In Azuaga, Antonio Sánchez is known as “El Patilla” (Sideburns), and the car repair shop where he works as a mechanic is known as “El Chupa Aceite” (the oil guzzler). The town is south of Badajoz, on the border with the province of Córdoba, and has fewer than 8,000 inhabitants. Everyone there knows who he is.

Everyone is afraid to speak out — to provide clues that might reveal their identity — about the hunter who allegedly left 32 dogs to die of starvation on his farm in June. They wouldn’t be the first to suffer violent consequences for raising their voices, several residents point out, without wanting to specify who. Nor does anyone feel comfortable sharing that until the Spanish Civil Guard’s Seprona (Nature Protection Service) unit inspected the place last week, the carcasses had been decomposing, some tied with chains, some showing signs of having been eaten by those animals that managed to survive a few more days.

Antonio Sánchez is nearly 40 years old, the son of a rural police officer, and a keen hunter. The owner of a business in the town center describes him as “a tough guy” and “a person with many problems.” The woman points out that he had recently divorced and that he “has been a bit lost” lately, and that this may have influenced the alleged crime of animal abandonment, for which he is being investigated by the Badajoz Environmental Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Court of Llenera, a municipality near Azuaga. According to the Civil Guard, he is currently on bail. EL PAÍS has tried to contact him, but he has not picked up the phone or responded to messages. His WhatsApp profile picture displays a white pit bull.

Azuaga is a town of 7,927 inhabitants, 15 car repair shops, four slaughterhouses, and a soccer field. Hunting is a popular pastime due to its proximity to the mountains. One of the episodes that shaped the town’s identity was the unexpected visit of the now-King Emeritus, Juan Carlos I, more than 30 years ago to practice his aim on animals in the nearby forests. Those residents who don’t find this anecdote — or any related to killing animals — amusing believe that hunters in the area operate with complete impunity, flouting all the controls and restrictions imposed by law.

In the town, the same story is recounted about what happened after the incident involving the 32 abandoned dogs became known: El Patilla was getting a car ready for its safety inspection when he was told his property was being shown on local television. According to this version of events, the first thing he did was travel to Llenera, a nearby town, to enter a detoxification center and thus protect himself from possible legal consequences. However, the center denies this.

The dead dogs were hounds, a breed used for hunting big game. The farm where they were found is a 10-minute drive south of Azuaga, on the road leading to another town called Malcocinado. It covers 1,490 square meters with a warehouse in the center. This is where the images of the dead dogs released by the Civil Guard were filmed.

Sánchez has been charged with animal abandonment, a crime that normally does not carry a prison sentence. However, the court will decide if he will be charged with further offenses. The Spanish Penal Code includes animal abuse as a crime of omission, that is, failing to provide the necessary care for each species. The maximum sentence is two years in prison, but in Spain, at least two years and one day must be handed down for a custodial sentence to be imposed.

Since the 2015 legal reform, the death of each animal is considered a separate crime, so Sánchez could face 32 charges of animal abuse. A lawyer on the Animalist Party With the Environment (Pacma)’s legal team points out that, even so, it’s highly likely he won’t serve a prison sentence because, although the total of all the sentences could reach the threshold for his incarceration, judges typically adjust the punishment to the legal maximum. “I don’t know of any case in which the abuser has gone to jail,” explains the lawyer, adding that most of these cases result in “ridiculous penalties.”

María Menglano is the vice president of ADANA, the animal protection organization in Badajoz. She has appeared in multiple trials for similar matters and will appear in this one as well. “In my experience, going to prison for animal abuse is very difficult, whether you’ve killed 32 dogs or just one,” she says.

As an activist in a rural area where similar cases occur periodically, she explains that there aren’t more complaints because it’s very common for the accused or their friends to threaten or attack people who report their abuses. “People who are capable of beating a dog to death are also capable of beating a child, their wife, and even their mother,” she concludes.

Occasionally, incidents of this kind become public knowledge. In August 2020, the Civil Guard opened proceedings against another hunter from Badajoz who had abandoned 20 animals to die on another property. He was sentenced in January of this year: 20 months in prison and a six-year ban from any animal-related activity.

Animal Welfare Law 7/2023 expressly excludes “hunting dogs, packs of hounds, and hunting auxiliaries” from its scope. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) pledged in February 2023 to subsequently draft specific regulations for these types of animals. However, two months later, they announced that it would be shelved until the next legislative session — that is, the current one — because there was no time to approve it before the general elections in June of that year and the dissolution of the parliament.

Two years later, nothing further has been heard. Sources from the Ministry of Agriculture indicate that “some” royal decrees in this regard are being processed, such as mandatory universal identification. “They have left [animals] very unprotected, and dogs are the most abused,” notes the vice president of ADANA. “The administration should carry out controls, because these cases are extremely frequent.”

Pacma, the animal rights party, is outraged by the incident and called for a demonstration in Madrid on Sunday to demand harsher penalties for these types of crimes. They also demand more inspections of the hunting sector to end the “exploitation and violence” suffered by dogs used for this activity, especially greyhounds and hunting dogs. “These animals are treated as tools, and when they are no longer useful, they are condemned to oblivion, confinement, or a slow death like this,” Pacma denounces.

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