Author: Michael Rodrigue
She herself says that she doesn’t know how she’s done it. Cristina Pascual lives in Palencia, in north central Spain. In the past year she has saved over 150 animals, and with nearly no resources. Her story is a very inspiring one, and it shows what can be done when one truly has a love for animals. As Cristina put it, “If an average run of the mill, single woman with no resources was able to save 150 abandoned and abused animals in one year, imagine how many animals could be saved if everyone did the same.”
When I asked her how she manages to accomplish all of this, she laughed and said, “I don’t even have a car, I’m always calling on friends of mine. One day I call on one, the next day I call on another, so they can take me to Zamora with a few dogs, to Burgos with some galgos, to the boarding kennel to take pictures, etc. etc. And I don’t have a camera either. It’s almost comical, because without any means whatsoever, I manage to accomplish all of this.”
Being an animal lover, Cristina used to do what many of us do. She would rescue a dog from the pound, or take in a stray cat or two and keep them until she could find someone to adopt them. One day she heard about a poor German shepherd who was abandoned out in a field. He had been beaten so badly that his hind legs were paralyzed and he couldn’t move. Cristina immediately went to his rescue, and this would be the day that would change her life.
When she saw the dog, her heart ached for him. She was beside herself trying to figure out how to help him, and with no money. That was when she wrote to Isabel, a woman who runs a shelter in another part of Spain. Little did she know at the time that her letter would soon begin to circulate and reach many parts of the world. Her letter was a plea for help. She said, “You don’t know me, but I am an animal lover like yourself. I don’t know what to do to help this poor animal, but I can’t leave him to die……I’ve named him Milord.”
Isabel forwarded her plea to several animal organizations and shelters in Spain. Maria José, of Refugio Kimba, forwarded the email to me in Arizona. I was so moved by it that I immediately began to translate the letter into English, and then sent the translated version back to both Refugio Kimba and to Cristina. The response she got was overwhelming, and soon the injured dog, Milord, was on his way to a veterinary clinic.
The emails began to pour in and before she knew it, Cristina had hundreds more emails than she could ever answer. But she formed a chain of supporters who still continue to support her today, and they helped form the Milord foundation. After many months of therapy and recuperation, Milord was adopted by Angel and Chantal in Barcelona, where he is now living very happily.
Cristina then formed the organization “Amigos de Milord” and has been working on setting up a website for her organization. The next thing she knew, things had begun to snowball for her.
She has made public pleas for help on three occasions. The first one being for Milord, the next was for Arwen, a galga who was found in a lamentable state with the bones in her leg broken in several places and exposed flesh with parasites eating at it. The other letter was about Casper, who made the channel 4 news in Spain with his horrific story of how someone had torn his ears off. Once again, Cristina got an outpour of help from her chain of supporters.
Cristina has found a wonderful veterinarian in Zamora, an hour and a half from Palencia. He does not charge her for anything except for the materials that he uses, and he gives her those at cost. He tends to all of the animals that Cristina takes to him, performs surgeries and sterilizations, as well as a variety of other services, and all free of charge. Cristina even assists in the operations, helping her understand better how to care for animals. There are some days that she gets home at 7am after being at the clinic all night long, because he will see her animals at any hour of the day or night.
And of course, she always has to find a ride from one of her friends to take the sick or injured animals to this clinic, an hour and a half away. Casper has been living at the clinic, free of charge, during all of his convalescence. She says that this veterinarian is the best thing that has happened to her this year. She pays him small amounts of money whenever she can afford to do so.
Cristina has charge accounts at a few veterinary clinics in Palencia, where she takes galgos for blood analyses. They too give her everything at cost, and she pays when she can, a little at a time.
She has worked out an agreement with the owner of a local boarding kennel so that she can take homeless dogs there. People from other parts of Spain send their rescued homeless animals to her to be boarded at this kennel. They are animals that are rescued from pounds so that they won’t be put down. The owner offers her a greatly discounted price, which is about one fifth of the price they would pay in Madrid, making it affordable for the people to shelter their homeless animals.
For bringing him so much business and keeping his kennel full, he offers Cristina a huge discount for the animals that she needs to board there. When an animal belonging to one of those other organizations is adopted, Cristina then sends the animal by an animal delivery service to the adopter. And so, she manages to keep his kennel full for him, and at the same time is able to help many animals.
Cristina works as a dog groomer, and her employer gives her anti parasite treatments as well as other products, such as pet food, at cost. She earns a very meager salary and is always in debt to veterinary clinics and boarding kennels, constantly paying little by little what she can afford. As she puts it, “I get by the best way I can.”
Besides taking in abandoned, abused and injured animals, Cristina also feeds a huge colony of feral cats on a daily basis. Besides the colony that she herself feeds, she makes the rounds to various neighborhoods where she talks to the local residents who feed the feral cats, making sure that all of the cats are being fed and cared for properly if they are ill.
Cristina has no time to call her own. In the past year she hasn’t been able to even read a book, something that she enjoys immensely. Since meeting Milord, she has started 5 books and hasn’t finished any of them. The animals take up every spare minute that she has. This past weekend was an example of how busy this keeps her. She awoke before dawn on Sunday to travel to the province of Valladolid to take part in the protest against the barbaric festival of the Toro de la Vega in the town of Tordesillas.
When people saw her banner from “Amigos de Milord” dozens of strangers from Barcelona, Valencia, León etc. approached her to say hello and to thank her for the work she does.
From Tordesillas, she went to Valladolid to do a pre screening with a family who is interested in adopting a galgo from an organization in Bilbao. Next she returned home to Palencia to take her own dogs out for their evening walk. After that she went to do another pre screening with a family who wanted to adopt one of her little cats. The interview went well, and she returned an hour later to deliver the little cat to its new family.
Next she set out to feed one of the colonies of feral cats that she feeds every day, and finally at the end of the day, she was able to sit down and read her dozens of emails. “That was a Sunday, so you can imagine what a weekday is like,” she told me.
Next Saturday she’ll return to Valladolid, because Michelle is coming from Luxemburg to deliver one of Cristina’s galgos to his new family in Germany, and she will need to prepare the galgo for the trip, with passport, blood analysis etc. Cristina has a special fondness for the Spanish galgos. She has rescued many of them from the local dog pound. Recently she rescued a blind galgo from the pound and was subsequently successful in finding a loving home for him in France.
“What Milord did was incredible,” she says. “I never imagined that my email would go any further than Isabel, and I was actually embarrassed when I learned that people all over the world had read it. Milord’s story united many people from all over the world: Mexico, USA (as far west as Arizona), Holland, Germany, Great Britain, France, Colombia, and all over Spain. All of these people were united in order to save the life of one dog,” says Cristina.
“It’s a huge chain of people who have now helped many other animals. It’s a long list of people who are all united in friendship through Milord. Milord made it all the way around the world, and today people know me through Milord. Milord deserves all the credit, they’re his friends, and thanks to him the chain of help was formed, and that help was passed on to Casper, and now to Arwen.”
Cristina has no volunteers to help her because she has been so busy that she hasn’t been able to stop long enough to look for any. She hopes that when she gets her web page up that she will find people who are willing to join her, and then things will be easier. She might be able to finish those 5 books, or perhaps even go for a stroll some Sunday.
“Once I have my web site up, then maybe I can find some volunteers, and at that point I can stop having to put money every week from my mini salary,” says Cristina, “so that I can buy a car, even a second hand one, so that I don’t spend all day suffering thinking that I won’t find someone to help me transport a dog.”
Cristina has filed numerous formal complaints with the city against the local dog pound for its questionable practices and its mistreatment of the animals. She has rescued dozens of dogs from that pound and was able to offer them a second chance at life. When she rescues dogs from the pound, she places them at the boarding kennel until she is able to find homes for them.
A few weeks ago Cristina was contacted by Telma Shaw, a board member with the organization Galgo Rescue International Network (GRIN), which was founded by Abigail Christman of Colorado. GRIN is an organization dedicated to helping in the plight of the Spanish galgos. They recently sent an enormous shipment of supplies, both medical and non medical, to Spain by means of one of their representatives.
The representative flew to Madrid and then dispersed the individual boxes of donations to shelters all over Spain. Abby and Telma learned about Cristina just recently, and they had time to add her to their list of organizations before the shipment was sent. And so Amigos de Milord was one of the many grateful recipients, and Cristina was deeply moved by the kindness and generosity shown to her by this group of total strangers who went to such great lengths to help her.
When I asked Cristina how she has managed to do all of this in one year, she said, “Now that you ask me, I realize that it must seem incredible. I’m always asking, is the best way I can answer you. I have to ask for help with everything; I ask friends for rides, I ask friends if I can borrow their cameras, I ask for financial assistance in extreme cases, I ask for people to let me buy things at cost, I set up agreements with a boarding kennel, I set up charge accounts with vets, etc. etc. As I said, it’s a matter of getting by the best I can and saving these helpless animals.”
Many of us would like to know that when we die we will be leaving this world a little better place for having passed through here. At her young age, Cristina Pascual has already accomplished that. She is truly an exemplary humanitarian.
If you would like to know how to help Cristina and "Amigos de Milord", please contact me:
Michael_Rodrigue@bestfriends.org
If you would like to know more about the organization GRIN, please visit
http://www.galgorescue.org-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cristina Pascual García, Una Persona Ejemplar y Humanitaria
Ella misma dice que no sabe como lo hace. Cristina Pascual vive en Palencia, en el norte de España. En menos de un año ella ha ayudado a más de 150 animales, y sin ningún tipo de ayuda. La historia de esta chica es impresionante, y es un ejemplo de lo que es posible hacer cuando uno es verdaderamente amante de los animales. Como dice Cristina, “Si una chica de la calle, normalita, en un año puede ayudar a 150 animales necesitados, ¿qué se podría conseguir si todo el mundo hiciese eso?”
Al preguntarle como ha podido hacer todo esto, se rió y me dijo, “Ni siquiera tengo coche, siempre llamo a amigos, unos días a unos, otros días a otros para que me lleven a Zamora con los perrines, a Burgos con galguitos, a la residencia canina a hacerles fotos, etc. etc. Tampoco tengo cámara de fotos, es de risa, sin ningún medio lo realizo todo, madre mía.”
Como amante de los animales Cristina hacía lo que hacemos muchos de nosotros. Anteriormente ella sacaba perros de las perreras, pero de uno en uno, o recogía algún gatito y los tenía en casa hasta que lo adoptaban. Un día le contaron de un pastor alemán que se encontró abandonado en un campo. Le habían pegado una paliza tan mala que las patas traseras se le quedaron paralizadas y no podía moverse. Cristina se fue a buscarle sin pensarlo dos veces, y aquel día se le cambió la vida para siempre.
A Cristina le dio muchísima pena ver a un perro sufriendo de esa manera. Fue entonces que ella escribió aquel email a Isabel. Le dijo, “Tú no me conoces pero yo también cuido a los animales. No sé que voy a hacer, pero no puedo dejarle a morir…….Le he puesto el nombre de Milord.”
Isabel difundió el email a varias asociaciones y protectoras de animales en España. Maria José, de Refugio Kimba (Cádiz) me lo mandó a mí en Arizona. A mi me tocó el corazón y enseguida empecé a traducirlo al inglés, y luego se lo reenvié a Refuigo Kimba y a Cristina. Pocos días después a Cristina le llegaron montones de emails de personas en todas partes del mundo, y así es como empezaron las cosas. Se formó la fundación de Milord, se recuperó Milord, y fue adoptado por unos santos, Angel y Chantal, de Barcelona, donde ahora vive felizmente.
Cristina fundó la asociación “Amigos de Milord” y lleva desde entonces intentando de lanzar su página web. Ella sólo ha pedido ayuda pública en tres ocasiones, la primera fue por Milord, que esa carta acabó publicada en España y fuera de España. La segunda vez que pidió ayuda fue por Casper, un pobre perro a quien le arrancaron las orejas y la historia salió en las noticias del canal 4. Y la tercera vez fue por Arwen, la pobre galguita que fue encontrada en una carretera en un estado lamentable. Son tres casos extremos en los que las curas supusieron un gran esfuerzo económico.
Cristina ha tenido la suerte de conocer a un muy buen veterinario en Zamora que solo le cobra lo que gasta, si utiliza suero, le cobra el suero, nada más, ni los ingresos hospitalarios, el le abre la clínica siempre que le pida ayuda, aunque sea un sábado o un domingo. Ella va con el coche lleno de 4 o 5 perros y él se los esteriliza, cura, etc. Algunos días Cristina vuelve a Palencia a las 7 de la mañana ya que el veterinario le opera a cualquier hora, y ella siempre ayuda en las operaciones. Luego ella le paga cuando puede.
En Palencia también tiene algunas cuentas en algunas de las clínicas, unas le hacen precio especial en las analíticas de los galgos, se lo dejan a precio de coste y les paga cuando puede.
En la residencia canina tiene un acuerdo con el dueño, le hace muy buen precio para perros que ella lleve, y ella le lleva perros de todas partes de España, son perros que otras asociaciones sacan de las perreras para que no les sacrifiquen y que en Madrid, por ejemplo, las residencias caninas son carísimas, en algunos casos cuestan casi 300 euros al mes, cuando en Palencia con su acuerdo con el dueño se lo deja a 60 euros al mes, con lo cual las asociaciones le llaman, le dicen que el día tal le llega un perro y ella le recoge en MRW y los lleva a la residencia. Cuando es adoptado lo envía donde la asociación le indique, y así, llena la residencia canina y consigue que le hagan precio a la vez que se ayudan a muchísimos perros.
Ella trabaja en una peluquería canina, y las pipetas para desparasitar, cosas que necesite, pienso, le sale más económico porque lo compra a precio a coste. Como dice Cristina, “Es ir buscándose la vida como pueda.”
Aparte de cuidar a los perros, Cristina también se encarga de darles de comer a unas colonias de gatos callejeros de Palencia.
Dice Cristina, “no es que te lleve mucho tiempo, es que te lleva todo tu tiempo libre, hace un año que no puedo leer un solo libro, desde que conocí a Milord, tengo 5 libros empezados.” El pasado domingo 9 de septiembre se levantó de madrugada para ir a Tordesillas a la manifestación contra El Toro de la Vega, luego fue a Valladolid para hacer un pre seguimiento a unos posibles adoptantes de una perrita de una asociación de Bilbao, después llegó a casa y sacó a sus perritas, y se fue a hacer otro pre seguimiento para la posible adopción de una gatita, la cosa terminó bien y volvió a casa por la gatita y la llevó a su nuevo hogar. Luego se fue a dar de comer a su colonia de gatos de la calle y regresó de nuevo a casa a volver a sacar a las perritas. Ya entonces podía contestar a unos cuantos emails. Me cuenta Cristina, “Eso fue un domingo, conque imagina un día de diario”.
En la manifestación anti taurina en Tordesillas (el Toro de la Vega) muchísima gente fue a saludarle a Cristina, gente de Valencia, de León, de Barcelona que eran amigos de Milord y le habían visto la pancarta donde ponía el nombre de la asociación.
El sábado que viene se tiene que ir a Valladolid porque Michelle de Luxemburgo viene a llevarse uno de sus galguitos que ha sido adoptado en Alemania, y le tiene que preparar el pasaporte, analíticas, etc.
“Milord hizo algo increíble” dice Cristina, “consiguió unir a muchísimas personas de todas las partes del mundo: México, EEUU (hasta Arizona), Holanda, Alemania, Inglaterra, Francia, Colombia, y todas partes de España, y todas ellas se unieron para salvar a una vida, es una gran cadena de gente luego han ayudado a muchos otros animales, son una gran lista de personas que les une su amistad con Milord. Milord dio la vuelta al mundo y hoy en día a mí se me conoce por Milord. Todo el mérito se lo lleva Milord, son sus amigos, garcias a él se formó esa cadena de ayuda, ayuda que recibió Casper y ahora Arwen.”
Cristina no tiene socios porque no ha tenido tiempo ni de difundir la asociación “Amigos de Milord” Dice Cristina, “Una vez que tenga la web, gracias a ello obtenga socios, que mi lucha contra la perrera de sus frutos…..todo será más fácil, podré terminar esos 5 libros, y puede incluso que algún domingo pueda salir a dar un paseo. Ya no tendré que poner dinero de mi mini sueldo y eso hará que pueda comprarme un coche aunque sea de segunda mano, y así no tendré que pedir más favores a la gente para que me lleven, y no tendré que estar todo el día sufriendo de pensar que no encontraré a nadie que me traslade algún perrín.”
Hace un mes, más o menos, Cristina recibió un email de Telma Shaw de la asociación estadounidense Galgo Rescue Internacional Network (GRIN), fundada por Abigail Christman de Colorado USA. GRIN se formó para ayudar a los galgos españoles. Esta misma semana pasada la asociación mandó muchísimas necesidades para España, tanto medicinales como no medicinales, por medio de uno de sus representantes. Abby y Telma se enteraron de Cristina y de la asociación “Amigos de Milord” y querían incluirla en el grupo de asociaciones que ayudaban.
“La verdad es que pensándolo ahora me doy cuenta que todo lo que dices, el como conseguí ayudar a tantos animales sin ayudas, es increíble, porque lo hice pidiendo ayuda en todo, pido que alguien me lleve a tal sitio, pido ayuda económica, pido a amigos las cámaras de fotos..... haciendo tratos con residencias caninas, consiguiendo materiales a precio de coste, teniendo cuentas en clínicas veterinarias, etc.” Como dice ella, “Es ir buscándose la vida como pueda.”
Lo que espera un buen ser humano en esta vida es que cuando salga de este mundo lo habrá dejado un poquito mejor por haber pasado por aquí. Cristina Pascual, con la joven que es, ya ha cumplido eso. Ella es verdaderamente una persona ejemplar.
Para más información sobre "Amigos de Milord" pongase en contacto conmigo: Michael_Rodrigue@bestfriends.org
Para más información sobre GRIN visite su web:
http://www.galgorescue.org