"Man in the Service of Animals"

By Tali Lavie

March 21, 2006

	Abused donkeys find a safe haven. Photo: Tel Aviv SPCA

Tali Lavie, spokesperson of Hakol Chai, explains the connection between violence toward animals and toward people, and why society should care about animals. In preparation for the coming elections, she pleads with future public representatives to continue promoting animal-protection laws.

"The members of the Knesset also joined together to serve animals," proclaimed Knesset Member Meshulam Nahari (Shas), an experienced education official and former Deputy Minister of Education, who was deeply shaken by the priorities of Knesset Members in choosing to discuss, among other topics, one as offensive as animal protection.

MK Nahari's remarks were made at a hearing of the Knesset Education Committee on November 15, 2005, at which Knesset Member Yuli Edelstein (Likud) presented a bill to protect animals from abandonment and neglect.

MK Nahari, disappointed and enraged by the mere fact that a meeting on this subject was held, recited the story of creation in order to rebuke those present: "When God created man, he said to him: 'Here, all these are here at your service.' I did not know the opposite is true. What is happening here? Man in the service of animals. And Knesset Members have joined the service of animals, too. What about human beings?" Yuli Edelstein, who proposed the law, responded "Whoever does not have compassion for animals does not have compassion for humans."

It is possible that education official MK Nahari did not have the opportunity to read the numerous articles in support of MK Edelstein's proposal before that discussion. However, since MK Nahari contributed to the effort to stop the force-feeding of geese, and since he might still be active for many years to come in the legislative and educational fields, I will try to enlighten him and raise considerations concerning what we face should we lose the little empathy we still have for animals.

Animal abuse is also violence

In one well-known case in the United States, a law-school graduate who had difficulty finding a job unloaded his frustration on cats and kittens, inflicting great harm on them. A humane society turned to the police, who obtained a warrant to search his apartment. Photos of six women who he had been stalking were found in his apartment, along with detailed plans to do to the women what he had done to the cats and kittens.

In that case, the women were saved from a fate similar to the cats thanks to the fact that the local police understood that violence is violence, no matter the victim, and that abuse of animals deserves serious attention.

Understanding the relationship between violence toward people and toward animals has led to growing cooperation between police and child-welfare authorities in the U.S., which has resulted, in many cases, in saving lives.

Very regretfully, in our small and violence-ridden country, there are terrifying examples of the connection between violence toward people and toward animals.

Only a few days ago, the head of the Kadima-Tsoren Council, Yitzhak Golbari, reported that among various violent actions directed toward him was the poisoning of companion animals in his yard. In the same violent atmosphere, a grenade was thrown into his house.

The lack of sensitivity for the suffering of animals is also apparent in the terrible case of a student from Ness Ziona who burned his neighbor's dog along with the trampoline in the children's garden, because the dog "disturbed him while studying for an exam at the university." This is clearly extreme cruelty.

	Dogs executed by hanging.  Photo: Roni Rosenberg, "Tzafon 1" newspaper

Education for empathy and respect

Unfortunately, it is not rare that cases of violence toward animals are linked to cases of violence toward people; this fact is based on studies carried out at Yale University and other noted research institutions. The studies show that animal abuse, child abuse, and other types of abuse in society are strongly linked.

Many violent criminals began their path of crime as children and adolescents who abused animals. Often, society does not offer treatment to children who abuse animals, thinking "they'll grow out of it," and "it's only an animal." Once these adolescents become adults and have the strength to do so, they turn their violence on people.

Other studies have demonstrated that children educated with empathy, respect, and compassion toward animals transfer these attitudes to people when they become adults.

The link between animal and child abuse was presented in depth at a 1994 conference entitled "Preventing Violence in Society through Education," co-sponsored by CHAI, the sister charity of Hakol Chai, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport.

At that conference, Dr. Frank Ascione, Professor of Psychology at Utah State University (now Professor at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work), presented numerous shocking examples of the link between abuse of animals and violence toward people. Ascione explained that one of the recognized symptoms of certain behavioral disorders is cruelty to animals. Thanks to psychiatric and hospital intake questionnaires and greater awareness on the part of education officials, there is greater awareness of the symptoms of children in need of help.

Whether or not we like animals, one of the important tasks we face in creating a healthy and violence-free society is to model a respectful attitude toward animals and to foster such an attitude in our children.

These attitudes are in accordance with the writings of many of Israel's great thinkers, from Maimonides forward, who taught that educating children to respect animals contributes to the development of a more humane society and improves our quality of living.

The important bill to protect animals from abandonment and neglect passed the Education Committee and other challenges to eventually become a respected law, an event that took us one step forward on the path of becoming a society that educates for humaneness and empathy toward all living beings. Yet it is clear that we still have a long way to go to end the minimizing the suffering of other living beings and to educate against indifference and violence.

On the eve of elections, I address all the politicians who will be elected to the 17th Knesset, asking them to continue the route we started, to proceed with legislating laws for the benefit of those who cannot protect themselves, and to enforce the law against animal abusers, in order to take one step further along the path to becoming a better society.

Article reprinted courtesy of NRG.