חוק לתיקון פקודת הכלבת (מס' 6), התשפ"א-2020Law to amend the Detention Ordinance (No. 6), 2020 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The purpose of the Law is to establish an alternative to isolation in an isolation facility (hereinafter - municipal pound) for a dog or cat that bit or came into contact with a person or another animal where there is concern of rabies infection. The alternative provides that, at the request of the owner of a dog or cat that bit or came into such contact, a government veterinarian or municipal veterinarian shall grant a permit to keep the dog or cat under supervision and observation outside of a municipal pound, including at the owner's place of residence, if the preliminary conditions for granting the permit have been met. The Law authorizes the Minister of Agriculture, with the approval of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee, to establish the preliminary conditions for granting the permit, as well as the requirement to deposit a monetary guarantee to ensure compliance with the conditions for granting a permit for supervised and monitored keeping, if the Minister finds, after the entry into force of the proposed arrangement, that depositing the guarantee is required to ensure the permit conditions. The Minister, in consultation with the Minister of Interior, was also authorized to enact Regulations establishing fees for a permit to keep a dog or cat under supervision and observation. Until the preliminary conditions are established by the Minister in such Regulations, the conditions for granting the permit set out in the Law shall apply. Among the conditions established are that the dog or cat must be vaccinated against rabies, the requirement to examine the dog or cat for clinical signs raising suspicion of rabies, a condition that in the three months preceding the bite or contact the dog or cat was not found in an area declared under the Ordinance as infected with rabies, presentation of a valid license under the Law for the Regulation of Dog Supervision, 2002, and that if the animal is a dog - it was not caught roaming while being kept by the permit applicant more than twice in the two years preceding the date of the bite or contact, as well as payment of a fee of 365 new shekels. A municipal veterinarian or government veterinarian may permit keeping a dog or cat under supervision and observation at a veterinary clinic, if there is a medical reason justifying not keeping it in a municipal pound and subject to additional conditions set out in the Law. The forms for submitting the permit application are also set out in the Law. Once the permit is granted, until the Regulations are enacted by the Minister as stated, the conditions set out in the Law shall also apply, the main ones including the requirement to bring the dog or cat for a veterinary examination by a municipal veterinarian or government veterinarian at the place and time specified in the permit, as well as on the first working day after the end of ten days from the date of the bite or contact. The animal must also be brought for examination in any case of a noticeable change in its behavior or health condition, and in case of death; preventing contact of the dog or cat with any person or other animal, except for someone permanently present at the place of supervision and observation; the dog may not be taken out of the place of supervision and observation except to a distance not exceeding 500 meters from the place, or for the purpose of examination, and only while held by a person who is at least 18 years old, on a leash not exceeding 2 meters in length and muzzled; it may not be brought into dog parks, public gardens, playgrounds, or educational institutions. A municipal veterinarian or government veterinarian may immediately revoke a granted permit if the conditions for granting the permit were violated or ceased to be met, or if the permit was granted based on false, incorrect, misleading, or partial information. The Law further establishes that keeping the dog or cat in quarantine in a municipal pound or under supervision and observation shall be for ten days from the date of the bite, and not from the date of detention according to the wording of the Ordinance prior to the Law's entry into force, since ruling out rabies symptoms occurs during the ten days from the date of the bite or contact, not from the moment the bite or contact becomes known. The Law establishes that if the owner does not reclaim the animal after the isolation period, a municipal or government veterinarian may, after giving the animal's owner an opportunity to present their claims within 14 days from the date they were notified thereof, transfer the animal for adoption, instead of the authority currently granted under the Law to euthanize the dog or cat. Only if it was not possible to transfer the animal for adoption through reasonable effort and within a reasonable time, will the veterinarian be authorized to order its euthanasia, while preventing unnecessary suffering. The Law restricts the ability to request an order to destroy an animal, without compensation to the owner, solely on the grounds that the animal is behaving wildly. This shall only be permitted if the animal is likely to contract or transmit rabies. In addition, the application of the Ordinance to birds will be abolished, in light of the understanding that they are not carriers of rabies, and the term "animal owner" ("ba'al chai"), commonly used in the Ordinance, is replaced with "animal" ("ba'al chayim"), in accordance with the guidance of the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

automatic translation · suggest a correction

Sponsors

Sharren Miriam Haskel, Miki Haimovich