חוק להסדרת הפיקוח על כלבים (תיקון מס' 6 – הוראת שעה – חרבות ברזל), התשפ"ד–2024Law on Regulation of Dog Control (Amendment No. 6 – temporary provision – Iron Swords), 2024 · automatic translation · suggest a correction

Official summary of the law (Knesset)

The Law for the Regulation of Supervision of Dogs, 2005 establishes that after ten days in a municipal dog pound, a dog without an owner may be handed over to the security establishment, or to another body determined by the Minister in regulations – these being new owners, an animal welfare organization, or a nonprofit organization engaged in training guide dogs. If it cannot be handed over, the municipal veterinarian may order the dog's euthanasia. Following the Iron Swords War and the destruction of the system fence surrounding the Gaza Strip, many dogs from Gaza entered areas of the State of Israel surrounding the Strip. These dogs are not domesticated, mostly live in packs and search for any food they can obtain under the new conditions created. Since they are not accustomed to human company, there is concern that they will attack humans and animals, and it is claimed that several such incidents have already occurred. The entry of dogs from the Gaza Strip has intensified the problem of stray and abandoned dogs that already exists in Israel. Local authorities within 20 km of the Strip are struggling to deal with the problem of stray dogs in their territory. Normally, stray dogs caught within a local authority's territory are transferred to and held in dog pounds. In the new situation that has arisen, the pounds are filling up quickly and cannot accommodate all the dogs being caught; many dogs are not suitable for adoption or rehabilitation and suffer while confined in cages in the pounds. Therefore, the Amendment to the Law establishes, as a temporary provision until 30 November 2024 or until the end of the validity of the declaration of a special situation on the home front, whichever is earlier, that a municipal veterinarian of a local authority within 20 kilometers of the system fence surrounding the Gaza Strip will be permitted to order the euthanasia of an unmarked dog caught within the said 20-kilometer range, even if ten days have not yet passed since it was brought to the municipal pound. The Amendment to the Law enshrines a set of considerations that the veterinarian must weigh before deciding on euthanizing the dog, including, among others, whether the dog may pose a danger to public peace or security due to its behavior, whether it cannot be kept in pounds due to its health or behavior, or if it is not suitable for adoption. It is further established that such euthanasia will only be permitted after the dog has been left in the pound for at least four days, in order to give the municipal veterinarian the opportunity to examine the dog's condition before making the decision. It is also established that any euthanasia of a dog will require the veterinarian to justify his decision. If the municipal veterinarian decides that the dog is suitable for adoption, he must notify the security establishment or another body determined by the Minister as described, that the dog can be transferred to it. In such a case, the shortened period of 4 days will not apply, and the dog may be kept in the pound for 10 days as currently established in the Law. It is further established that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the approval of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee and after consulting with the Director of Veterinary Services at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, will be permitted to exercise a similar authority regarding unmarked stray dogs within the territories of local authorities within a range determined by the Minister from the Lebanon border, if the Minister finds that circumstances justifying this exist, due to an extensive and unusual entry of unmarked dogs from Lebanon into Israeli territory, as a result of the breach of the system fence. It is also established that there will be reporting provisions by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee on the implementation of the temporary provision, shortly after the end of the period of the temporary provision. The report will include, among other things, data regarding dogs that were euthanized, the considerations that were weighed, as well as a report on the actions of the Ministry of Agriculture during the period of the temporary provision and within the established range for dealing with stray dogs. Such a report will also be submitted regarding the northern border area if it is determined that the temporary provision will also apply to it. For the purpose of the Minister of Agriculture's report to the Committee, municipal veterinarians will be required to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture a monthly report on the number of dogs caught and euthanized in the pounds.

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What was said in the plenum

The bill seeks to allow municipal veterinarians in authorities near the Gaza border (and under certain conditions also near the Lebanon border) to order the euthanization of captured, unmarked stray dogs before the ten-day period set in current law has elapsed, against the backdrop of thousands of stray dogs entering from the Gaza Strip following the breach of the border fence during the war. The debate centered mainly on whether this is a necessary and proportionate response to the danger posed to the public and to the animals themselves, versus the claim that the law exempts the Ministry of Agriculture from genuinely and sustainably addressing the stray dog problem and leads to mass euthanization.

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An automatic summary of the plenum transcripts: the debate on the bill at every reading it was voted on. Arguments are given as the speakers made them; this is not an assessment. The list of speakers comes from the transcript, without a model. Transcripts of the sittings: 1, 2

Reservations to the second reading

27 reservations were filed: proposed changes to the text the committee brought to the second and third reading.

The reservations are mainly intended to shorten the validity period of the temporary provision, narrow the scope for rounding up abandoned dogs, and extend the waiting period before euthanizing them, as well as to add requirements for documentation, supervision and oversight of the capture and euthanasia process.

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By faction

• Yesh Atid opposition · 16 reservations · 24 members
• Labor opposition · 14 reservations · 4 members

A joint reservation counts for every faction whose members filed it.

Asked to speak: Ayman Odeh (Hadash–Ta'al), Ahmad Tibi (Hadash–Ta'al), Aida Touma Sliman (Hadash–Ta'al), Ofer Cassif (Hadash–Ta'al), Youssef Atauna (Hadash–Ta'al)

Proposers and reservation numbers are extracted automatically from the committee version, and the count is checked against the numbers printed in it. The descriptions are an automatic summary. Committee version for the second and third reading (PDF)