Animals aren't being protected by Agriculture Ministry, government says

By Ilan Lior

The Agriculture Ministry should no longer be responsible for protecting animals, the coalition decided Sunday, a week after a report by an animal rights group accused the ministry of giving preference to the interests of farmers over the welfare of animals.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided in a 10-3 vote that the coalition will support a bill putting the Environmental Protection Ministry in charge of implementing the Animal Cruelty Law. Agriculture Minister Orit Noked appealed the decision.

"There has been a lot of criticism of deficiencies in dealing with matters connected to animal rights in Israel," states the explanatory portion of the bill, sponsored by MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beiteinu ). "Animals, which are by their nature perhaps the weakest group in Israel, are exposed to much harm and to the absence of sufficient protection on the part of the state."

Part of the problem, according to the bill, is the "inherent conflict of interest between the various tasks" of the Agriculture Ministry.

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan said his ministry pledges to take on the added responsibility without seeking additional funding.

"A society is judged by its treatment of the weak," he said. "Animals are helpless, and today they are not protected sufficiently. My ministry commits to taking on the responsibilities without making any demands for a budget or personnel. We are willing to carry out the important task of maintaining animal welfare and enforcing [the law] against abusing them."

Noked appealed the committee vote, saying farmers, and not just animals, must be protected.

"The law as it stands today expresses the need for a suitable and responsible balance between various interests and values, like protecting public health, preventing the spread of animal diseases and agricultural needs," she said. "The ministry has the professional knowledge and enforcement authority to deal with the matter."

Noked and her predecessor as agriculture minister, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon, voted against coalition support for the bill, as did Meshulam Nahari, a minister without portfolio.

The Agriculture Ministry has been tasked with implementing the Animal Cruelty Law since it was passed 18 years ago, but animal rights activists say it has neglected its duty and failed to set guidelines to protect many of the animals in the country.

The bill states that the Environmental Protection Ministry is better suited to the task, particularly since it is already responsible for some aspects of animal protection.

"Unifying the responsibilities under a single government ministry will contribute to increased protection of animals in Israel, prevent the doubling up of enforcement and monitoring authorities, and make the systems meant to promote [animal] well-being and rights more efficient," the bill states.

Local animal rights group Anonymous for Animal Rights, which released a report last week attacking the Agriculture Ministry for "systematically evading its responsibilities" to protect animals from abuse, cruelty and torture, welcomed the move.

"We welcome the fact that the government has not remained indifferent to the terrible injustice done in making the Agriculture Ministry responsible for the Animal Cruelty Law and to the tremendous harm the ministry caused to animals," the group said in a statement. "We are convinced that this is an important and significant step to advance the rights of animals in Israel and stop the institutional harm being done to them."

The group said in its report that the Agriculture Ministry had taken steps to protect animals only in response to "heavy pressure," which it said was primarily due to the ministry's "inherent tendency" to prioritize the interests of the agriculture industry.

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