The Finance and Agriculture Ministries have signed an agreement to allocate NIS 6 million ($1.5 million) towards the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats in the next three years.
The budget aims to reduce animal reproduction in order to lower the number of stray dogs and cats and alleviate the pressure on pet adoption foundations.
Dr. Dganit Ben-Dov, the Veterinary Services official in charge of enforcing the Animal Protection Law, said that the budget will help fund spaying and neutering projects, and may also be used to spay and neuter stray dogs and cats.
In 2008 the Knesset adopted an amendment to the Animal Protection Law, which obligated the government to assume responsibility for the spaying and neutering of dogs and cats. The amendment also included a budgetary clause stipulating that the Finance Ministry will be forced to fund the activity.
However, the Economic Arrangements Law, which was passed soon after, sought to cancel the designated budget and in effect make the amendment null and void.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Tel Aviv (SPCA) has launched a battle against the decision and the organization's lobbyist, lawyer Idan Abuhav, managed to formulate an agreement between the Finance and Agriculture Ministries that would guarantee funding for the project for the next three years.
"We hope that we will now see more and more neutering and spaying taking place, and that in the future we will not have to deal with such huge numbers of unwanted stray animals," said Abuhav.
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