Last update - 00:00 25/02/2007
Enforcement falls by the wayside and the animals suffer abuse
By Zafrir Rinat
About a year ago, the consumer affairs program Kolbotek broadcast shocking pictures of cruelty to animals allegedly by the staff of the veterinary department of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. The Agriculture Ministry, responsible for veterinary services, announced that a harsh indictment would be issued against the workers and the regional council veterinarian.
The harsh indictment has meanwhile become a mere disciplinary action. According to Noah, the umbrella association for animal rights, the Agriculture Ministry does nearly nothing to enforce laws against cruelty to animals.
This week, the Knesset Education Committee held a special discussion on the matter.
For almost a decade, the Environmental Protection Ministry has been funding an officer with expertise in this area assigned by the police. Sources at the ministry said this became necessary because the Agriculture Ministry was not enforcing the law. Records show that in the past two years one indictment was issued through the Agriculture Ministry as opposed to dozens through the police.
About a year ago, Deputy Attorney General Yehoshua Lemberger directed the police to establish a procedure to enforce the Cruelty to Animals Law, coordinated with the Agriculture Ministry. Consequently, the funding for the police officer, which came through a special grant, was stopped. According to attorney Zohar Shekalim, who deals with the Cruelty to Animals Law in the Environment Ministry, the result has been "a significant decline in dealing with complaints of harm to animals."
About three months ago, the police proposed that an officer be put back in charge of such investigations and defined procedures to investigate and bring veterinarians to trial.
Attorney Efrat Aviani of the Agriculture Ministry's legal department said the procedures had not been coordinated with the ministry and ignored its primary responsibility for enforcement. Among the changes the ministry proposed was not to charge veterinarians with breaking the law when carrying out activities to prevent rabies or other animal-borne diseases. Such activities typically include euthanizing animals.
"The Agriculture Ministry proposes taking investigative powers from the police for themselves," said attorney Ohad Peleg of Noah. Peleg says the law gives vets enough immunity to carry out their jobs and the proposed changes will dissuade the police from investigating. The ministry responded that it had sufficient expertise to do the job.
The ministry said the Mateh Binyamin veterinarian had not ensured proper treatment of cats by council workers, but that he was employed only part-time and was not present on the days the cats were being held. Thus, only disciplinary procedures were chosen.