"Hakol Chai" in front of the Tel Aviv City Council: Stop the Abuse of Horses and Donkeys in the City

	Photo: Hakol Chai

By Shlomit Tzur

LOCAL, 3 December 2006

Translated from Hebrew

This afternoon, at the entrance to the Tel Aviv Council meeting, "Hakol Chai" conducted a protest demonstration against the municipality's disregard of the continuous abuse of horses and donkeys in the city. The purpose of this activity was to make it clear to the City Council members, who were discussing this issue today, that the plight of horses and donkeys must not be ignored.

It is well known that many horses and donkeys in Tel Aviv suffer severe distress. They are exploited for "work" by people who use them to avoid paying the costs that are entailed in the use of a car, and they use them as if they were objects that do not feel pain, hunger, thirst, and so on. They are frequently used as "vehicles" by junk peddlers, and they are forced to carry extremely heavy loads of goods, building materials, metals, glass, and so on, which causes them great suffering. Quite often a weak horse can be seen on the streets of Tel Aviv, nearly collapsing under a heavy load, being given another whipping that forces him to carry the load a little further, until he reaches the end of his ability and collapses. After the regular "working" hours, they often begin a "second shift" of work, exploited as riding horses or simply as the subject of abuse.

Many times, in order to save costs, the owners of the horses and donkeys starve the animals, withhold basic medical care from them, house them in waste sites, and abandon them to die in torment when they are too weak to do their "job." These include the horses "Shai" and "Shabbat" who were rescued by "Hakol Chai" activists from severe abuse in the Jaffa area in a shocking physical state, suspended between life and death.

Horses and donkeys are frequently kept by children who have no knowledge of how these animals should be treated and who exploit them in various ways. This phenomenon was shown in an incident, just one among many, several months ago. The director of "Hakol Chai," the lawyer Yadin Elam, saw a horse in terrible physical condition tied to a wagon opposite the building of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Police. The wounded horse was found to be kept by two teenagers, 12 and 15 years old. Elam called the police officers in an attempt to detain the owner of the horse, who arrived at the scene. The horse's condition and its wounds required medical attention, and it was clear that his owner should not be allowed to keep it. The police determined that the suffering horse would be confiscated, and with the help of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality veterinary department, which sent a horse trailer to the scene, the horse was sent to a protected facility.

In another case, a child was bitten by a mare who was not immunized, and who was protecting her foal in the "Park Darom" area. She was kept by children who were offering passersby rides on her across the park for a miniscule amount of money.

Stories about such abuse are a matter of routine. "Hakol Chai" believes that horses and donkeys should not be used for carrying loads, and it acts toward the formation and implementation of a prohibition on introducing horses and donkeys within the boundaries of the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. However, in order to immediately alleviate this suffering, the charity demands the immediate enforcement of existing laws, such as the municipal bylaw designed to protect horses and donkeys, and requests that the Council members support the appeals of Councilwoman Orna Banai, and to work decisively to enforce the requirement of the licensing of all horses and donkeys.