Minister of Agriculture (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel sent a letter to Minister of the Environment (Not a MK) Avi Gabai in which he suggests allocating the NIS 4.5 million annual budget to ship stray dogs and cats to a country willing to take them, Yediot Achronot reports. Ariel explains as a frum Jew he opposes the current program of spading or neutering the animals to control the population since it is forbidden by halacha and therefore suggests using the money to ship them to another country. He adds such procedures represent cruelty to animals.
Meretz opposition party leader MK Zahava Gal-On responded “I do not know if there is a halacha against it, but as the minister responsible for animal welfare his proposal conflicts with basic morality, it is time to look for another country that would accept him”.
MK (Machane Tzioni) Yoel Sasson added “Uri Ariel is a minister from the mid-ages. Why must we return to the days of Tanach and send dozens of planes packed with cate when we can castrate them on European soil. If anyone is looking for the proof that extremist religious elements have taken over, this morning Minister Ariel showed us that we are already one step into theocracy. This is a primitive and immoral solution. Today its cats and tomorrow it will be psak halacha that one will want to use it against people. ”
Yediot adds that persons in Ariel’s ministry expressed harsh criticism over the idea, adding “It is most unfortunate that he is destroying all that he accomplished in the beginning of his term regarding protecting animal rights”.
Ariel explains “In recent years modest amounts of money have been allocated to short-term solution which led to ‘tzar balei chaim’ but the problem still exits”. He explains that is why he has instructed the minister’s director-general to seek a long term solution that does not cause suffering to the animals. As a result of this, one of the suggestions raised is finding a country willing to accept the cats and dogs, for payment but after a number of discussions this idea was scrapped.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
The cats control the rodent population.
Spading and neutering animals is very cruel. How can a civilized society even contemplate it.
A more sane solution is to farm the dogs and cats and when they reach full growth, humanely kill them.
Their firs would make wonderful warm clothing and the meat can be processed and sold to countries that have no hang-ups eating dog or cat salamis and cold cuts.
This would eliminate the overpopulation of the animals and be a source of income to a government agency that has a small income, main from killing off stray dogs and cats anyway,
” He explains that is why he has instructed the minister’s director-general to seek a long term solution that does not cause suffering to the animals.”
the neutering procedure does not cause suffering. Starving to death as a feral animal is real suffering. Besides, NO NATION IN THE WORLD is interested in mass shipments of stray animals… ok, maybe North Korea, so they can feed their scientists better to build nukes with Iran…
/shaking my head..,
Spaying and neutering do cause suffering, like any other surgery, and is against halacha. Probably best to be an animal and eat the cats. (Consuming organic matter is animal behavior.)
I actually was given permission by a major posek to spay a female cat. I was actually surprised and so was my rav.