Ministries earmark money for abandoned animals in North
Amiram Cohen
Ha'aretz, August 3, 2006
Several ministries - Agriculture, Environment and Negev and Galilee Development - have each pledged NIS 50,000 from their budgets to help abandoned dogs and cats in the north. The funds will cover housing abandoned pets at private kennels until their owners are located. The Finance Ministry has pledged to put up a similar amount for the project if necessary. Local authorities and animal rights groups paint a grim picture of hundreds of abandoned cats and dogs. The Veterinary Service at the Agriculture Ministry and animal advocacy organizations have been busy these past three weeks feeding dogs whose owners left them on the street or tied up outside without food, water or care.
Hundreds of dogs have been taken to municipal pounds, filling these to capacity and creating urgent pressure to put the pets up at private facilities. Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon has instructed the director of the Veterinary Service, Dr. Moshe Haimovich, to establish a system for transfering the money to kennels and other service providers who will work to save the pets. Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said there have been hundreds of calls to the ministry's hotline reporting on abandoned animals.
