Knesset Proposes Bill to End Domestic Fur Sales

The JPost reported on a proposed bill to make Israel the first country to ban fur sales nationally. Due to Israel's generally warm climate I'm not sure this will be a big issue for most people. In case you are wondering, there is a carve-out for shtreimels, the fur has worn by many chassidic Jews. Also, fur imports will still be permitted. 

For a related story, see here and here about the court fight regarding an Israeli company's export of macaque monkeys to the US for biomedical research. In that case, the Supreme Court allowed the company to export only the monkeys that were raised in captivity but not those captured in the wild. However, El Al, Israel's national airlines, in response to public pressure said that it would not transport monkeys for the purposes of experimentation.

Also, another JPost article reports that the Cabinet recently approved a measure prohibiting chicken farmers from starving hens in order to encourage them to lay more eggs, a process known as forced molting, beginning January 1, 2013. Also, the sizes of battery cages will have to be increased to bring Israel in line with European standards. **And an article from the JPost on August 19, reports that a raid on a pig farm also found inhumane conditions as well as potential violations concerning the pollution of groundwater from swine refuse. Apparently the laws on pig farming are fairly lax.**


For information on the Jewish law view of animal rights see the blog
Animals in Halacha run by an Orthodox Jewish veterinarian and the article here and the article entitled Animal Experimentation by Rabbi Alfred S. Cohen  here. This is Rabbi Cohen's conclusion:

Despite some disagreement as to the status of the prohibition of causing pain to animals - whether of biblical or rabbinic origin - virtually all rabbis agree that it is permitted to perform experiments on animals if the intention is to benefit humans. But that is not a blanket permit: although it is permitted In this case to cause pain to the animal, it is only "דרכו של איניש בכך" if it occurs because of "something which people customarily do." What this limitation means in practical terms is not clear. It is of course understood that at all times, a person must be careful to minimize the animal's pain as far as possible. There are other objections which may place a legitimate brake on animal experimentation. There are scientists who claim that some of the uses of animals in scientific studies are not needed, because the same results could be achieved without involving animals. Also, some destruction of animal life is wanton waste, tests performed for trivial purposes. These things would not be permitted under Jewish law. In addition, there is the fact that experiments are duplicated or triplicated in dozens of laboratories around the country and around the world, thus entailing massive loss of animal life. Given the ready access which scientists the world around have to each other's studies, the halacha could not countenance many experiments which do not really serve a worthwhile purpose but only repeat what has been done elsewhere.

Other scientific "advances" may also be barred by Jewish law simply because the discomfort they cause animals is too great for the negligible benefit to man. In this vein, R. Moshe Feinstein castigates the modern practice of penning up animals so that they can hardly move about as well as "fattening calves [with chemically doctored foods] in such a way that their flesh develops a white appearance." (White veal is considered preferable to dark veal). He denounces these practices as reprehensible.

What emerges from all this is that we cannot establish a firm ruling on the question of using animals in scientific experiments. Although in general, halacha condones causing pain to an animal if a person will benefit therefrom, that little "if" leaves a great deal to be determined. Much depends on the need and the circumstances, on the pain to the animal and the expected gain to humanity. This is a determination which the individual experimenter cannot make for himself but which must be addressed on an ad-hoc basis. As the horizons of scientific study expand, the need for further halachic guidelines grows.