The 11 horses rescued by Ministry of Agriculture inspectors last April from an improvised compound in Kfar Yehezkel have not been returned to their owners, the Nazareth Magistrate's Court ruled recently.
The horses were kept in extremely difficult physical condition, without medical treatment and in poor conditions, which manifested themselves in stables full of feces and urine until the horses could not stand due to the huge quantities surrounding them, in addition to not having access to adequate food.
In addition, Judge Misa Zoabi ruled in her decision that the farm owners must pay all state expenses for the evacuation, including the costs of catching, transporting, maintaining and caring for the horses, totaling NIS 32,895.
The farm owner will pay tens of thousands of shekels to remove all the horses, photo: Ministry of Agriculture
The eviction followed a complaint received by the ministry regarding the compound, which led to a series of inspections of the farm by the ministry's inspectors and the commissioner of the Animal Welfare Law. During the audits, the owner of the complex undertook to correct the deficiencies without delay. Ministry inspectors and the supervisor continued to visit the site, and realized that it had done nothing to improve the condition of the horses and their conditions – and as a result, it was decided to evacuate all the horses to a protected facility fully funded by the Ministry of Agriculture for medical treatment and rehabilitation, as a stopover until new adoption frameworks were found.
Following the incident, a criminal investigation was opened against the owner of the complex, which is still ongoing. In accordance with additional investigations expected to take place and in accordance with the evidence collected so far, an indictment and a request to restrict the keeping of animals in the future are expected to be filed against the owner of the place – and despite this, he submitted a request to transfer the horses to a farm owned by a resident of the north, which was rejected.
The Ministry of Agriculture's position on the matter is that the farm owners were given many opportunities to correct their actions, which could have included transferring the horses to the appropriate entity. In addition, the ministry noted that the horses were transferred to an "adoptive family" after an examination conducted by the ministry, after the ministry met all the conditions and signed a contract with the ministry to ensure proper treatment and non-recurrence of offenses.
In her ruling, Justice Zoabi wrote: "I accept the respondent's position that this is an improper legal policy. This may harm law enforcement and deter the applicant and the many."
Ministry of Agriculture Prosecutor Ziv Danieli said: "This is a serious case in which the suspect kept animals in an (allegedly) abusive manner when they were in an unbearable physical and medical condition, without any medical treatment. I commend the court's decision to prevent the return of the horses and allow them to receive full and proper rehabilitation, followed by transfer to owners who will know how to provide the best care to the horses that have been sufficiently injured during their lives. We are currently working on concluding the criminal investigation and preparing an indictment."
"Serious case". One of the horses whose care was neglected on the farm, photo: Ministry of Agriculture
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