Help Stop Horse Abuse in Israel

Please write to the Chairperson of the Education, Culture, and Sports Committee in the Knesset, to the Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports, to the Minister of Transportation, and to the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa asking them to support legislation to prevent cruelty to horses in Israel.

Ask them to ban the use of horses to pull carts through heavy traffic on busy city streets or, at the very least, regulate the practice to require that:

• Anyone who uses a horse for work, including at the many riding stables around the country, obtain an annual license, following a satisfactory inspection by an independent horse veterinarian. In areas where there is already a requirement for licensing, it must be enforced.
   

• Anyone convicted of deliberate cruelty to animals never be allowed to have animals again.

The urgent need for such legislation is evident from a recently televised case of extreme abuse. A journalist working undercover in Jaffa videotaped a cart vendor and seller of horses to other cart vendors, hacking apart horses with an axe and selling their meat in the market as cow meat. Sent to jail, just a few short months later this same man was set free and was, once again, videotaped overworking and beating his starving horses and keeping them in a filthy and dangerous environment. Again, his horses were seized, but now, just a few months later, he once again has more horses and the pattern of abuse continues. It is outrageous that someone charged with cruelty to horses should be allowed to have horses.

Each municipal veterinarian is responsible for responding to reports of cruelty to animals, including horses, but municipal veterinarians and the police are overworked, understaffed, and not trained to recognize abuse in these animals. Hakol Chai has repeatedly reported incidents of severe cruelty to the municipal veterinarian of Tel Aviv, but no action has been taken. The burden should be placed on the horse's guardian to obtain a license and annual inspections, just as people have their dogs licensed and given annual rabies vaccinations. Responsible horse guardians could easily have their veterinarians fill out a routine inspection report that includes a checklist of potential problem areas.

Requiring a license and an annual inspection will discourage buying horses cheaply, using them until they drop from exhaustion, illness, injury, or malnourishment, and then abandoning them. Licensing will also provide additional income to municipalities and will allow any policeman to stop cart vendors in the street, ask them to show their license, and seize their horse if that horse is not licensed or if the inspection record is not up to date. Cart vendors and others who abuse animals will quickly understand that they must either provide proper care for their horses or not have them.

The need is urgent. Allowing animal abusers to repeatedly obtain and abuse horses gives a stamp of approval to animal cruelty.

Please write to the following:

Chairperson of the Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee
The Knesset
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91950, Israel
Email: V2@knesset.gov.il
For a list of all Committee members, see Education, Culture, and Sports Committee Members.

Minister of Education, Culture, and Sport
22 Shivtei Israel St.
Jerusalem 91911, Israel
Email: sar@education.gov.il

Minister of Transportation
The Knesset
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91950, Israel
Email: sar@mot.gov.il

Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
Tel Aviv City Hall
69 Ibn Gvirol St.
Tel Aviv 64162, Israel
You can also write to the Mayor on the Tel Aviv Municipality's website at
www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/general/contact/contact.htm