Tools or companions | The quiet activism for Spain’s forgotten Galgos and Podencos | Gemma & Adva | Free Spanish Hounds & Hope for Podencos

Every February, as Spain’s hunting season ends, thousands of Galgos and Podencos are discarded. Some are abandoned, some are killed, and most are simply forgotten. They are fast, intelligent and deeply sensitive, yet still treated as disposable tools rather than sentient companions.In this week’s episode, I speak with Gemma and Adva, the organisers behind Free Spanish Hounds, a UK-based movement that marches each year to raise awareness of Spain’s hunting dogs and the cultural systems that allow their suffering to continue.We talk about how empathy becomes action, what it means to show up for animals we may never meet, and the quiet power of people who refuse to look away.This conversation asks:→ What does it say about us when one species can be both pet and tool?→ Can empathy travel across borders when laws and traditions divide it?→ What happens when love for one dog changes the course of a life?It is an episode about compassion as resistance and the quiet hope that collective action still matters.Follow Free Spanish HoundsWebsite⁠ | Facebook Group | Instagram Follow Hope for PodencosWebsite⁠ | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok