A local resident from Fuengirola walked up to an ONCE stand last weekend clutching a dream that had just come true. He told the seller, José Manuel Campos, better known as Josele, that he had dreamt of landing a million euros on a Mega Millonario scratchcard. Moments later he scratched the ticket right there in Plaza de la Hispanidad near the fairground and discovered he really had bagged the top prize.

Josele, who has sold tickets in the town for five years, said the winner hugged him and kept thanking him in disbelief. “He told me he had dreamt it would be a million with an ONCE rasca, and when it happened, he just couldn’t believe it,” the vendor explained. Both men were left chuffed beyond compare, though the new millionaire was understandably more so. Josele added he still struggles to take it in himself, glad to have handed over a life-changing win to someone who needed the boost.

Local seller delivers top Mega Millonario prize on the spot

Fortune struck at the regular ONCE pitch beside the fairground. The lucky buyer scraped the card on the street and instantly became a millionaire. Josele described the shared excitement, stressing that changing someone’s life is exactly why the sellers are there – to bring a bit of joy.

How ONCE lottery tickets fund support across Spain

Previous Euro Weekly News reports on big ONCE wins, from Marbella payouts to other Costa del Sol successes, show how the system works. ONCE, the National Organisation of Spanish Blind People, runs daily coupon draws and instant rasca scratchcards such as Mega Millonario.

Authorised sellers, many of them visually impaired, offer the tickets at street stands and kiosks. Money raised goes straight into programmes that help blind and disabled people with training, jobs and daily support. Players simply buy a card, scratch it or wait for the draw, and any win is paid out after checks, keeping the whole operation focused on both chance and community good.

Fuengirola has seen its share of lucky breaks lately, and this million-euro result continues the run with a proper fairytale twist that started in a dream.

Flames racing through the Spanish countryside have left thousands of animals fighting for their lives this week. From hunting packs trapped in farmhouses to lions locked indoors and horses set free to run, ordinary people and emergency crews have risked everything to keep pets, livestock and wildlife alive.

Pack of dogs pulled from the flames in Avila

Salamanca firefighters sent to help tackle the huge Burgohondo blaze in Avila found themselves racing to save a ‘rehala’, a full hunting pack of dogs, trapped inside a rural house as the fire closed in.

Crews threw up a wall of water around the building, holding the flames back just long enough to protect the structure. Once the immediate danger passed, they moved in, calmed the terrified dogs, gave them water and stayed with them until the stress of the smoke and heat began to ease.

Locals watching the rescue said the animals were shaking and panting when the firefighters first reached them. Without that rapid intervention the entire pack would almost certainly have perished.

🐶❤️ ¡Final feliz! Un perro atrapado por el incendio forestal de Ávila fue rescatado por los bomberos portugueses desplazados a España y, posteriormente, trasladado por la Guardia Civil hasta Salamanca para garantizar su atención pic.twitter.com/kr73eC9n6n

— EL ESPAÑOL (@elespanolcom) July 26, 2026

Ordinary people open their homes to stranded pets and livestock

While professional crews worked the fire lines, ordinary residents quietly got organised themselves. A WhatsApp network that first sprang up two years ago during earlier Madrid fires has swung back into action.

Thank you to the brave fire fighters and civil guards saving the lives of dogs and cats from the terrible fires sweeping France Spain & Italy pic.twitter.com/vnhl1OCSsg

— dominic dyer (@domdyer70) July 25, 2026

Neighbours have already taken in 20 cats, 25 sheep and three dogs from families forced to flee the western Madrid towns of Villa del Prado, Aldea del Fresno, San Martin de Valdeiglesias and Pelayos de la Presa. One Carabanchel resident, Eli, is ready to take three cats currently living in a garage if their temporary carer needs a break. Much as in the same way, neighbours of Los Gallardos and Bedar raced to the aid of those with animals during the devastating wildfires to help rehouse dogs, cats, and even horses before they had a chance to bolt for their lives.

Un grupo de ‘WhatsApp’ de acogida de animales por los incendios ha salvado ya a 20 gatos, 25 ovejas y 3 perros: así funcionan estos héroes https://t.co/bmBO57cyPM

— El Periódico de España (@ElPeriodico_Esp) July 24, 2026

Messages fly back and forth offering spare rooms, paddocks or even just a safe corner of a garden. Many of the animals arrive covered in ash, eyes streaming from the smoke, and need quiet spaces and steady hands before they can settle.

Singer races against fire to free her horses

In Segovia, singer Isabel Aaiun was celebrating Spain’s World Cup win when the fire near Brieva suddenly changed direction. Still wearing her national team shirt, she raced to her farm as the wind pushed the flames towards the property.

With no time left, she and helpers opened the gates and turned the horses loose into the dehesa so they could run clear of the advancing front. “There was a sudden surge of the fire coming straight at the farm,” she told followers later. Hours of searching followed until every horse was accounted for and the land itself was declared safe.

Her videos, filmed while she was still out of breath, show the same frantic scenes repeated on farms across the region, owners leading or releasing animals in the nick of time as smoke fills the sky.

Safari keepers refuse to leave their animals behind

At Safari Park Madrid in Aldea del Fresno the fire came within 300 metres. Staff had already moved rhinos, lions, jaguars, giraffes, elephants and tigers into indoor quarters, switched on generators for air-conditioning and kept every sprinkler running to soak the ground.

Emergency services ordered a full evacuation. Four keepers, led by veterinary conservator Christian Cabrera, refused to leave. After tense negotiations they were allowed to stay the night, watching for flying embers and ready to move animals again if needed. Firefighters and Guardia Civil stayed close by.

🚨 EN LOS INCENDIOS CADA VIDA CUENTA. 🐾🔥
​Ante un incendio forestal nuestra prioridad absoluta es proteger a las personas, pero siempre buscamos tiempo y corazón para auxiliar a los animales:
​🐕 Mascotas
🐎 Ganado
🦊 Fauna silvestre

​#IncendiosForestales #IFSierraOeste… pic.twitter.com/bf5fxFIETJ

— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) July 26, 2026

The next morning the big animals were slowly returned to their outdoor areas. Later the same day a team of eight from the park drove to Navas del Rey to help evacuate the Fauna Kuna Iberica centre. They brought out vultures, an Iberian wolf and a lynx. The wolf and lynx had to be sedated for the journey; once safely back at the safari park, the drugs were reversed, and both animals recovered well.

Wildlife takes a heavy hit too

The first concern on everyone’s mind during a wildfire in Spain, is, of course the people. But the animals are defenceless faced with their environments in raging flames. Other than the farms and parks, wild animals have suffered. The Burgohondo fire tore through the Valle de Iruelas nature reserve, home to one of Europe’s most important black vulture colonies. Birds have been photographed streaming away from the smoke columns around San Martin de Valdeiglesias.

In France, similar scenes have played out near Bordeaux and in the Landes, where owners released horses so they could escape the flames. Across both countries the same quiet determination has appeared: people putting animals first even while their own homes stand in danger.

A riding center in Biscarrosse has released its horses so they can escape the wildfires.

When humans flee a wildfire, they know where the roads lead. Animals do not. Releasing these horses may be their only chance to survive, but it also reveals the brutal scale of the disaster:…

— 经磕 (@Tr32com) July 25, 2026

Right now more than 60,000 people in Madrid and Avila alone have been evacuated or confined, and tens of thousands of hectares of countryside lie blackened. Yet among the destruction, small acts of courage keep saving lives on four legs. Firefighters are holding water lines around a farmhouse full of dogs, neighbours are opening their doors to frightened cats and sheep, and a singer is turning her horses loose under a sky full of smoke. These are the stories that will stay long after the last flames are out.

Finding a dog abandoned and tied to a tree is heartbreaking enough, but what officers uncovered after rescuing the animal in the Murcia municipality of La Unión turned a distressing animal welfare case into a police investigation with a twist that nobody expected.The incident, revealed by the Policía Local de La Unión, began when officers received a call from a woman reporting that a dog had been abandoned.

The animal was found tied to a tree and without the identification needed to immediately establish who was responsible for it. After rescuing the dog, officers began looking into the circumstances surrounding how it had ended up in that situation. Their enquiries, they say, uncovered a very different picture of what had happened.

The abandoned dog

According to the Policía Local de La Unión, officers attended the scene after receiving the report and found the animal secured to a tree. During their checks, they discovered that the dog did not have a microchip, which meant they could not immediately identify its owner.

The animal was removed from the area and transferred to the municipal collection service, where it is now being cared for while the case continues. However, as officers investigated the dog’s background, they say they discovered that the animal was not unknown to the person who had contacted them.

Police shocked by the outcome

According to the Policía Local de La Unión, further enquiries established that the dog belonged to the same woman who had reported finding it abandoned. Officers say the animal had been in her care for several years and allege that she wanted to get rid of the pet without paying the required amount to surrender it through the appropriate service.

Following the investigation, the woman has been denounced for alleged animal abandonment and for failing to have the dog fitted with a legally required microchip. The lack of identification initially prevented officers from confirming ownership, but police say their subsequent checks allowed them to establish the connection between the dog and the person who made the original report.

Legal responsibility for pets

In Spain, owners are responsible for the welfare of their animals and must ensure they receive appropriate care and identification. Microchipping is compulsory for dogs, allowing authorities to trace ownership if an animal is lost, abandoned or involved in an investigation.

Animal rescue groups have repeatedly warned about the number of pets abandoned every year, with shelters often facing increased pressure during the summer months when some owners leave animals behind instead of finding alternative arrangements. For animal welfare organisations, cases involving dogs left without identification are particularly challenging because establishing ownership can take longer and make it harder to hold those responsible accountable.

The dog is now receiving care

For the dog at the centre of the investigation, the outcome is very different from the moment officers found it tied to a tree. The animal is now being looked after by the municipal collection service while authorities continue with the administrative process.

For the woman who made the call, the investigation took a plot twist when officers say they discovered that she was the dog’s owner. According to the Policía Local de La Unión, she now faces denunciations linked to alleged animal abandonment and failing to microchip the animal.