Haaretz Editorial: Rights for Helpless Animals

Haaretz had a wonderful board editorial supporting animal rights in the overall general sense this week! My two favorite quotes are in bold. Here it is, in its entirety:

Rights for helpless animals
By Haaretz Editorial

Public campaigns to defend animals often lead to improvement, but the real changes occur when the government and the courts mobilize in their defense. Israel is still not one of the more advanced states in its treatment of animals, but the courts and the government have recently made several decisions that prove that the importance of this matter is beginning to be understood.

Last week, the Nazareth District Court rejected an appeal by a man convicted of abusing a cat by putting it into a sealed plastic bag. The man appealed his conviction, but the court ruled that he injured "a helpless animal that cannot defend itself and cannot sue for redress of its pain and injury." The significance of the court's ruling was its rejection of the argument that the abusive behavior was justified in order to deal with a plague of cats in the vicinity of the abuser's residence.

Three weeks ago, the government decided not to support a bill that would enable geese to continue to be force-fed. Force-feeding causes great pain and artificially enlarges the goose's liver, all for the purpose of supplying the delicacy known as foie gras. Prior to the government's decision, the High Court of Justice, in response to petitions by animal welfare organizations, had ruled that force-feeding geese violates the law against abusing animals.

The government's decision is particularly significant because it affects the livelihoods of hundreds of people who were engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the goose-fattening industry. The government's decision thus effectively declares that the goal of preserving a source of employment cannot legitimize animal abuse. And on this note, the ongoing activity of the policemen who have been working with the Environment Ministry over the past several years to enforce the law against animal abuse deserves commendation. Their activity has led to the filing of several indictments.

Nevertheless, many shadows remain in the overall picture of the situation of animals in this country, and abuse is still widespread. This is particularly true with regard to farm animals such as chickens and cows, as humans have grown accustomed to viewing these animals as food products and have forgotten that they, too, are entitled to protection.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, people could once again be seen observing the custom of kapparot - a custom that has been criticized in rabbinical rulings for hundreds of years already and involves abusing terrified chickens with no nutritional or health justification. Veal calves are also still raised in Israel under terrible conditions, which include preventing them from drinking water in order to force them to drink a special liquid that causes them to gain weight.

One of the key problems is faulty enforcement, including the courts' tendency not to impose sentences that would deter offenders. Even when they are convicted, animal abusers are generally sentenced to fines that have no deterrent value or to suspended prison sentences. The government did indeed decide that the force-feeding of geese should not continue, but in practice, it does. From the point of view of the geese, there is thus far no comfort in the fact that both High Court justices and cabinet ministers have demonstrated compassion for their distress.