Malaga police investigate theft of 45 dogs from hunting association

The police are investigating the theft of 45 dogs from the farm of Malaga's hunting association. The operation, which some hunters believe could be an inside job, happened in the early hours of Monday morning.

Some of the hunters have lost all their dogs. Miguel Gaspar, who rushed to the farm as soon as he heard about the incident, found his kennel completely empty. "They have taken all of mine, seven in total. I had bred them since they were young," he said.

"As soon as I arrived I found two brothers crying, each of them had also lost seven dogs," Gaspar added.

His kennel had a broken padlock. The same had happened to another 11 kennels. Gaspar believes that the perpetrators had come prepared, "with the dogs selected" in advance, because they had left some kennels open without stealing the animals in them.

The hunter suspects that someone close to the association might have organised the theft. The National Police are investigating the crime. According to head of the association Pedro Molina, they were still gathering data on all the animals in order to file a joint complaint.

The thieves also stole a multitude of maintenance and training tools. The investigation considers that the perpetrators took a trailer from the property to transfer the dogs. The vehicle was located about 800 metres from the property.

Gaspar doesn't "have much hope" that he would see his dogs again. He and several other hunters stayed at the farm for hours on Monday, waiting to see if any of the dogs would appear in the area. "Nothing," he told SUR.