The Political Animal
2003 was an election year in Israel. The political party Meretz, which created an animal rights forum in an attempt to place the issue on the party's regular agenda, lost some of its strength at the elections. The Shinuy party gained a lot of strength, and Avraham Poraz, the sponsor of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Law became the Minister of the Interior. Recently he announced that he would encourage local municipalities to stop killing stray cats, and allocate budgets to neuter them. Many laws to promote animal welfare were proposed in the Knesset: banning force-feeding of fowl, banning force-feeding and banning starvation of animals, increasing punishment for abusing animals, banning entertainment that involves hurting animals and labeling products that involve animal testing. In the city of Tel-Aviv, council member Michal Eden proposed prohibiting carriages harnessed to horses and donkeys from entering the Tel-Aviv municipality. In this year's elections The Greens and Meretz - the two parties most supportive of animals - increased their strength in the Tel-Aviv city council.
A Disappointment for the Dogs
The political changes in the Knesset were not conducive for any real change. Even the unique event of some Knesset members' visit to vivisection laboratory in Jerusalem didn't yield results. And so the legal arena became the center of the struggle. The beginning was disappointing. Early in the year, the issue of dogs that the Israeli army kills as part of its "resuscitation" exercises reached the headlines. But after a brief discussion at the Supreme Court, this murderous practice was legitimized. The slogan of "saving human life" prevented any serious discussion of alternatives that are available to the army, and common in the rest of the world.
The Light at the End of the Tube
Change arrived on August 11, when the Supreme Court decided that force-feeding of geese is in violation of the law, and should be stopped by March 2005. The case, brought to Court by the federation of animal protection organizations in Israel (Noah) was backed by the investigation and campaign of Anonymous for Animal Right. It was the result of many years of struggle, which included identifying the weak points in the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture; contacting experts from abroad; taking undercover photos at force feeding facilities; exposing the torture of geese in the media; pressuring restaurants to remove foie-gras from their menus; distributing flyers, posters and stickers nation-wide; running an internet website; etc. The ruling gathered unprecedented media coverage, and much of the media was vocal about its support of the verdict.
Transparency in Experiments
In addition to this great achievement in the Supreme Court, Judge Pilpel of the Tel-Aviv District Court accepted a plea by the Association for Ethical Science. The Judge ordered the Health Ministry and the Board for Experiments on Animals to make public data regarding experiments on animals in Israel. Such data could help cut down on unnecessary experiments in the future.
Death in Livestock Shipments
Encouraged by these successes the Let the Animals Live organization petitioned to the Supreme Court against livestock shipments from Australia. The Supreme Court discussed the petition and ordered the State to explain all the neglects involved in shipping livestock from Australia, and especially why those shipments continue at all, given all the neglects involved. Activists from Anonymous for Animal Rights documented the harsh images of sheep and calves thirsty, abused, dying and dead in the transport vehicles. These images were aired as part of an expose by the Australian TV show "60 minutes" and generated much agitation against the industry of livestock shipping. The investigation by Anonymous for Animal Rights has been a part of a worldwide concerted effort of animal protection organizations to stop long distance transports of animals. In Israel, Anonymous for Animal Rights demonstrated against the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and filed a complaint in the police.
The Monkeys' Trial
In February 2003 Zachi HaNegbi, then the Minister of Environment, ordered the Nature and Parks Authority to prohibit the activities of the monkeys breeding facility in Mazor. The Israeli Society for the Abolition of Vivisection held a rally to support the Minister. One of the owners of the facility sued the spokesperson of the organization for libel (for half a million NIS!). PETA turned the campaign against the Mazor farm international, when it publicized the horrors of the experiments done to the monkeys that are "manufactured" in the farm. PETA also requested its supporters to write the new Minister of Environment, Yehudit Naot, to take action towards shutting down the farm. The Minister, however, who had been involved in the past with vivisection, ignored the requests, and in September overturned Mr. HaNegbi's decision, and approved importing 120 monkeys, destined to be abducted from nature. The Association for Ethical Science and Let the Animals Live petitioned against this decision to the Supreme Court, which temporarily forbade the import of the monkeys.
The Animal Circus
Currently, Israel has a ban on wild animals in circuses, and any display of animals is required to obtain a permit, which can only be given if no animal suffering is involved. The implementation of this rule, however, exposes its weakness. The Europe Circus, which exploits dogs, horses and cats in its shows, arrived in Israel by April 2003. Upon its arrival Anonymous for Animal Rights exposed and documented the harsh conditions under which the animals were kept, which violated the conditions of the circus' permit. Following the expose, the circus' producers committed to cancel several of the acts. In practice, however, only some of those commitments were realized. In spite of that, the official in charge of implementing the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals law refused to revoke the permit she gave the circus. Anonymous demonstrated anywhere the circus performed: Tel-Aviv, Kiryat Shmona, Afula, Karmiel, Haifa, Jerusalem (daily shifts), Ashdod, Beer Sheba, Ashkelon, Modi'in, Hedera, Rosh Ha'Ayin, Netanya and Rehovot. The campaign was covered in the media, and legislative efforts are now increasing to forbid the exploitation of animals in entertainment. Towards the end of the year, Nikolin Circus arrived in Israel, and it was discovered that it violated the conditions in the permit by including wild animals in its acts, without disclosing this fact. A complaint was filed with the police.
Red Tape
The regulations for animal welfare (regarding livestock transportation, holding conditions for veal calves, pigs, and animals not used for agriculture, as well as those regarding the killing of animals) have been stuck in different levels within the governmental bureaucratic system - most of them awaiting approval from the legal department of the Ministry of Agriculture. This year the red tape continues. Many activities took place to shed light on the immediacy of this issue, such as a demonstration at a veal farm and petitioning to the Supreme Court to order the government to enact these regulations. Even the struggle against the activities of the fish farms in Eilat must continue, since, despite the de facto legal victory, the cages have not been removed from the sea yet (But in March 2003 150,000 fish escaped to the sea after the cage broke in a storm).
Stripping Leather and Fur
After years of steep decline in worldwide sales of fur - a trend that is considered one of the most significant achievements of the animal rights movement worldwide - sales increased last winter. Some Israeli fashion-store chains were quick to add fur to their winter coats. Anonymous for Animal Rights began the year with a mass distribution of brochures on the harm to animals in the clothing industry, from fur to leather, feathers and wool.
Contaminated Meat
Last year the high danger of infection involved in eating meat that is manufactured in Israel was exposed. Journalistic investigation discovered that outdated meat gets repackaged with fake certificates. It was recently estimated that this occurs in more than 30 percent of the meat sold in Israel. Another scandal, this time involving poisons used in the fishponds, proved how the uncontrollable use of chemicals in raising livestock compromises consumers' health. But the most condemning evidence regarding the meat market in Israel was included the State Comptroller's report on slaughterhouses. According to the report, the extent of illegal slaughtering in Israel is larger than the legal one. The animals are slaughtered under compromised conditions that cause outbreaks of disease among the animals, and the danger of illness for the people who eat their flesh.
In the Schools
This year there has been a significant increase in animal rights activities of independent youth. The most media covered activity was by a group of high school students in Ramat-Aviv who succeeded in canceling organized camelback rides during a school trip. During 2003, students ordered about 1,000 bulletin-board kits from Anonymous for Animal Rights. In schools, dozens of daily or weekly animal-rights-themed events took place. Anonymous for Animal Rights created a professional introductory lecture for high schools and middle schools, and put together a team of lecturers. Activity groups developed in areas outside the more established urban centers in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem: in Haifa, Kfar-Saba, Rehovot, Beer-Sheba, Modi'in, and more. Anonymous for Animal Rights' activity coordinators are in touch on an ongoing basis with about 170 youths from all around the country, that run long-term activities. The traveling seminar for animal rights, that Anonymous for Animal Rights carried out in August, with a focus on forming local activity groups, was a huge success. In Tel-Aviv University, there was a sweeping protest by medical students against animal testing in the first stages of study. The protest might lead to a similar achievement to the one at the medical school of the Techniyon: canceling all experiments on animals in medical school. Two academic conferences were held during 2003: "Ethics, Judaism and Animal Welfare" at Bar-Ilan university and "Animal Rights - Following the Goose Verdict" at the College of Management.
Publications - on paper and online
In 2003 Anonymous for Animal Rights kept producing and distributing education materials on a large scale, including two new booklets: "Behind the Bars" and "Frequently Asked Questions". During 2003, Anonymous distributed about 200,000 brochures, posters and other educational materials. Anonymous website, which is the largest database for animal rights in Hebrew, kept developing, and its vegetarianism section was transformed into the Israeli Vegetarianism Website. Anonymous website won the second place in a national websites contest. Animal Rights This Week, Anonymous e-magazine, is sent to over 8,000 subscribers. Call for actions, which are published constantly in the magazine, sometimes save lives: many letters that arrived to AmeriBrom prevented an experiment on 900 rabbits. 330,000 visitors visited Anonymous website during 2003. When 2003 has started, we had about 500 visitors a day, while during the last 3 months of the year we had about 1,700 visitors a day.
Percentage of Vegetarians
A scientific survey, conducted by the Ministry of Health during 2003, revealed that 8.5% of the Israeli population is vegetarians. According to this finding, the percentage of vegetarians in Israel is the highest in the western world.
A Continuing Disaster
In an annual report, it is a custom to include disasters and tragedies. It is a paradox than that the magnitude of the animals' disaster makes it impossible to date their tragedies. What could be considered as a tragic event when every day humans kill about a million animals in Israel? It's true that the struggle for animal rights, especially through vegetarianism and veganism, lowers the numbers of slaughtered animals, but as the human population grows, so does the number of tortured animals, and their condition in the food industry worsens. This year it was reported of a further worsening in the suffering of chickens in the meat industry from disease and crippling of their legs. Of all the animals that were taken to their death in overcrowded facilities, we know only of one bull that managed to escape for a short time before he was shot.
