Israel’s far-right Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel is in the doghouse with animal lovers after suggesting that the millions of stray cats plaguing the country should be deported rather than castrated.
Writing to Environment Minister Avi Gabai, Ariel claimed that the budget set aside to cover the cost of neutering stray cats and dogs should be used to “deport them to a foreign country,” the Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported yesterday.
But Israel’s leading animal-welfare charity, the SPCAI, has condemned the minister’s recommendations, calling the proposal “appalling.”
“The problem of stray cats is serious and we estimate that there are nearly two million cats on the streets of Israel,” it said in a statement.
“The money allocated for castration cannot be used for anything else and we will appeal against this initiative,” it added.
In response, Ariel claimed that his suggestion was grounded in caring for feline welfare, and that his ultimate aim was “to do the utmost to avoid making the animals suffer.”
Opposition politician Yoel Hasson criticised the minister’s comments, describing them as “medieval” and “immoral.”
“If we needed additional proof of the influence that religious extremism has on life in Israel, minister Ariel has proven to us that we are heading toward a theocracy,” said Hasson.
An Israeli law passed in 1994 on animal welfare officially prohibits the torture, poisoning, and abandonment of animals, which would affect the Agriculture Minister’s plan to deport the cats and dogs. But in Jewish law, the canon states that to castrate an animal is a form of cruelty in and of itself.
“This proposal is immoral. Today cats. Tomorrow the minister will find a religious reason for deporting human beings,” said Hasson.
Ariel once belonged to the far-right party National Union, whose members had suggested the voluntary deportation of Palestinians.
