AR-News: ISRAEL: Rabies and cat and dog poisonings

[CHAI]

THE RABIES SITUATION IN ISRAEL AND DESTRUCTION OF CATS AND DOGS

PLEASE CROSS-POST AND SEE BELOW FOR WHERE TO SEND EFFECTIVE LETTERS


RECENTLY, INACCURATE INFORMATION WAS POSTED ON AR-NEWS ABOUT THE RABIES
SITUATION IN ISRAEL. FOLLOWING ARE THE ACCURATE FACTS:

1. On ar-news, notices asked people to write letters, urging that the
oral rabies vaccine be distributed. THE CAMPAIGN TO GET THE ORAL RABIES
VACCINE DISTRIBUTED IN ISRAEL HAS ALREADY BEEN FOUGHT AND WON. For many
years, Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI) pressured the
Veterinary Services to distribute the oral rabies vaccine. In 1998,
distribution of the vaccine finally began. According to Dr. Boris
Jacobson, the Veterinary Services' official in charge of distributing
the vaccine, it has now been distributed all over the country. As a
result, no cases of rabies have been reported in those areas where it
was distributed widely and often enough to be effective - in the north,
for example, even though bordering Syria and Jordan do not distribute
the vaccine. 

In the center of the country, the most highly populated area, it was
distributed only once, due to lack of funds, though at least two
distributions are necessary for full effectiveness. Government funds
were subsequently allocated for complete distribution to all areas
except the West Bank. Because vaccine-laden baits are dropped by plane,
officials fear planes flying over the West Bank will be shot down.
Distribution by land in this area is considered impractical because of
the large areas to be covered, the number of personnel and vehicles
required, and the danger. It is hoped discussions between officials of
the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government will facilitate
distribution of the vaccine in this area in the not distant future.

WITH FULL DISTRIBUTION IN THE CENTER IMMINENT, IN ADDITION TO CONTINUING
DISTRIBUTION IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH, THIS RECENT OUTBREAK OF RABIES IN
ISRAEL COULD BE THE LAST.

2. Notices on ar-news have also asked people to urge the Veterinary
Services to provide low-cost rabies vaccinations. RABIES VACCINATIONS
ARE ALREADY LOW COST. For companion animals, municipal vets offer the
vaccinations at a cost of just 24 Israeli shekels, or about $6, and for
feral cats, the cost is 11 or 12 shekels ($2-$3), or half price. For its
spay/neuter campaign in the city of Rishon-le-Zion, these were the
prices paid by clients of CHAI's mobile spay/neuter clinic.

Despite the low cost, some animal organizations in Israel have spayed or
neutered and released cats after giving them no vaccinations at all, or
have given only one vaccination, without the booster the following year
without which they are not immune to rabies. Some have released cats
where they are not being cared for. When feral cats are trapped, some
claim, in the media, that the cats were part of managed colonies, but
provide no vaccination certificate or any other evidence in support of
their claim. Municipal veterinarians maintain records on all animals
vaccinated in their areas. Without evidence that the cats were part of a
managed colony and especially without vaccination records, the cats are
assumed to be unvaccinated and at risk for contracting and spreading
rabies, especially when they are on, or immediately adjacent to, the
location where a rabid animal was found.
 
Said Dr. Haimovitch, Director of Field Services for the Veterinary
Services: "If those who wrote the false claims on the internet would
spend their funds and energy to help animals, instead of on publicity to
raise funds for themselves, and on lawyers to wrongfully sue other
animal groups and municipal vets (all lawsuits were unsuccessful), they
would have enough funds to spay/neuter and vaccinate all the cats in the
whole of Israel." 


3. During the current rabies crisis, the Veterinary Services has
followed the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: 

no quarantine or destruction of animals in areas where no rabies was
found; in areas where rabid animals were found and unvaccinated dogs and
cats were "potentially exposed" (CDC recommendations) to rabies, 6 month
quarantine. For vaccinated animals potentially exposed, 3 month
quarantine. The CDC recently lowered its quarantine requirement for
vaccinated animals to 45 days and a meeting at the Veterinary Services
has been scheduled to discuss - and likely approve - a similar reduction
in quarantine time in Israel. 

For a list of the numbers of and the areas where rabid animals were
found, see:

For 2003: http://agri3.huji.ac.il/~yakobson/rabheb/mapa2003.html

For 2004: http://agri3.huji.ac.il/~yakobson/rabheb/mapa2004.html

Rabies is fatal. People have died in Israel from having been bitten by a
rabid animal, including one woman who died after being bitten by a rabid
cat. 

In a very limited area surrounding the specific location where rabid
foxes, dogs, a lamb, and a cat were found, the Veterinary Services
ordered municipal vets to destroy unvaccinated stray dogs and feral cats
suspected of having come in contact with the rabid animal and therefore,
being a danger to other animals and people.

Those behind the inaccurate notices on ar-news claim permission to build
quarantines for feral cats to avoid their being euthanized was denied.
In fact, the Veterinary Services has guidelines for quarantines and
anyone wishing to establish a quarantine may submit a design to the
Veterinary Services for approval. In previous years, quarantines were
built by residents of Kibbutz Barkai and Gan Shmuel, for example.
Recently, a design to establish a quarantine in Kfar Saba was submitted
and approved, but was not built. Said Dr. Haimovitch: "These people talk
about helping animals, but do nothing".
 

4. THOUGH NOTICES ON AR-NEWS CLAIMED CATS WERE DESTROYED "ON A MASSIVE
SCALE" AND, IT WAS ALSO CLAIMED, THEY WERE DESTROYED BY UNKNOWN MEANS,
IN FACT, IN KFAR SABA, ACCORDING TO VETERINARY SERVICES OFFICIALS, A
TOTAL OF 35 UNVACCINATED FERAL CATS FROM A FEW STREETS IMMEDIATELY
SURROUNDING THE LOCATION WHERE THE RABID CAT AND FOX WERE FOUND WERE
HUMANELY TRAPPED AND EUTHANIZED WITH INJECTIONS OF SODIUM PENTOBARBITAL.
Similar numers were put down in several other areas where rabid animals
were found (especially in and surrounding the cities of Hadera, Netanya,
and Arad). 

In Kfar Saba, some individuals opened the back of the trapper's truck
and released from traps cats suspected of having come into contact with
the rabid cat, potentially spreading the disease to other animals and
people. Veterinary officials state that if citizens take irresponsible
actions that make it impossible for them to do their jobs humanely, they
cannot criticize them for resorting to using poison in baits, though no
poison was used in Kfar Saba.

It is difficult for people outside Israel to imagine the number of cats
on the streets of Israel. Over 50 cats can often be seen on just three
city blocks. Unless they are being cared for responsibly, they are in
terrible condition - blind, with diseases and injuries. 

Municipal pounds in Israel, with few exceptions, are old, small, and not
suitable for quarantining animals for months. The Veterinary Services
has requested funds from the Minister of Agriculture to improve these
facilities so in the future, they will be suitable for holding animals
for long periods. In the meantime, Veterinary Services' directives to
municipal vets specifically state that every effort must be made to
humanely trap and euthanize, with injections of sodium pentobarbital,
rather than poison, unvaccinated feral cats suspected of having come in
contact with a rabid animal. 

During a rabies scare, if efforts to trap cats who were potentially
exposed to a rabid animal are without success, the Veterinary Services
does approve the use of the poison tardemon (alpha chlorolose). They
also have approved the use of strychnine poison on dogs. CHAI has fought
strongly and consistently against the use of poisons since its inception
and finally, in July 2003, the Veterinary Services co-sponsored a
conference with CHAI on humane animal capture and control methods. 

At the July conference, THE VETERINARY SERVICES AGREED TO END THE USE OF
STRYCHNINE POISON AND REPLACE IT WITH HUMANE MEASURES. These include
using the euthanasia drug used in U.S. animal shelters, Fatal Plus (a
form of sodium pentobarbital), in powdered form in food, especially on
stray dogs who wander, in packs, across the border at night from Arab
areas where there is no rabies control. Some municipal vets in inhabited
areas where these dogs have been seen claim a high incidence of bite
cases as reason for concern.

The bureaucratic process of obtaining permission from the Health
Ministry and other officials is lengthy in Israel, but permission has
now been granted to import Fatal Plus and importation is imminent. Fatal
Plus will also replace use of the weaker, slower version of sodium
pentobarbital currently in general use in Israel. 

At the recent conference, CHAI also recommended spaying and neutering
and education as the long-term solution and the use of newer,
light-weight tranquilizer guns to catch stray dogs. CHAI brought Doug
Fakkema of the American Humane Association, Nick Gillman of ACES (Animal
Care and Equipment Services), and John Maulsby, DVM, then head of the
Colorado State Bureau of Animal Protection, to Israel to conduct
training sessions at municipal pounds around the country. On previous
occasions, CHAI brought Doug Seif, DVM, author of the American Humane
Association's manual on Sanitation and Disease Control, and Penny
Cistaro, a past Director of the Peninsula Humane Society, to Israel to
speak at a conference for municipal veterinarians and heads of shelters
held at the Veterinary School, and to consult individually with
municipal vets on improving the care of animals at these facilities.

ISSUES ON WHICH LETTERS ARE NEEDED

I. The original 1934 Rabies Law has been changed several times over the
years since it was enacted, but additional changes are needed. WRITE
(polite only, please) LETTERS TO:

Mr. Avraham Poraz (author of the Animal Protection Law) 
Minister of the Interior 

aporaz at knesset.gov.il 

Asking him to press for the following changes to the Rabies Law:

1. eliminate the provision that allows municipal vets to enter people's
homes and seize their animals, even if they are vaccinated. This
happened on one occasion during the recent rabies scare, in the city of
Givat Ada, where a vaccinated dog was seized and placed in quarantine.
The CDC says "house to house canvassing by animal control officials
facilitates enforcement of vaccination and licensure requirements," but
in the U.S., officials can only enter a home and seize an animal, as
opposed to just verify a vaccination, if the animal has been shown to be
a danger to other animals or people. 

2. eliminate the provision that permits the use of strychnine poison,
which causes aspyxiation during convulsions over a period up to 24
hours. The Veterinary Services has made a commitment to ban the use of
strychnine following a successful trial of more humane methods. As soon
as the trial has been completed successfully, the ban should be made
law.

CHAI will explore the possible use of humane alternatives to Tardemon
(alpha chlorolose) with the Veterinary Services, when trapping is
unsuccessful.


ALSO WRITE TO:

Minister of Agriculture Israel Katz

yiskatz at knesset.gov.il

about the following issues:

I. Companion animals from homes, who were not directly exposed to a
rabid animal, who have a rabies vaccination and a booster one year later
and who are current on their vaccinations should not be quarantined,
especially given the conditions in municipal pounds in Israel. The
liklihood of an animal who has received more than two vaccinations
contracting rabies is virtually nil. One U.S. study reported on the CDC
website found that no animal who had received one rabies vaccination and
one booster a year later and was current on follow-up vaccinations
contracted rabies, even when bitten by a rabid animal. Quarantining
animals who were not directly exposed to rabies, who have received more
than one vaccination and who are current on their vaccinations seems
excessive and even abusive, given the conditions at most municipal
pounds in Israel. The facilities are old and not in a good state of
repair, the cages small, and there is typically no enrichment, or even
bedding. Guardians are not permitted to visit their animals during the
lengthy quarantine period. Most importantly, to quarantine vaccinated
animals encourages irresponsibility on the part of the public, who may
see no point in getting their animals vaccinated if they will be
quarantined whether or not they have received a vaccination.

II. Rabies vaccinations should be required only every 3 years after the
initial vaccination and booster, not annually. The CDC states on its
website "No laboratory or epidemiologic data support the annual or
biennial administration of 3-year vaccines following the initial
series." Manufacturers of the vaccine have stated, including on the
bottles, that they last for 3 years. Vaccinating animals annually has
been shown to cause cancer in some animals and it will be less expensive
and easier for people to comply with vaccination regulations if they
only need to get their animals vaccinated every 3 years.

Veterinary Services officials point to the fact that annual vaccinations
are still required in some states in the U.S., but these requirements
are changing and there is no reason why Israel should not join the many
states that already permit vaccinations every 3 years, rather than
follow behind the last state to make the switch.
 

What is also urgently needed is a PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN. See
www.chai-online.org to learn of CHAI's educational efforts, ESPECIALLY
ON THE ISSUE OF SPAYING AND NEUTERING. Contributions to education and
spaying and neutering can be sent to CHAI at POB 3341, Alexandria, VA
22302. 

For additional, more detailed information on the rabies situation,
action taken by the Veterinary Services, abuses by individual municipal
veterinarians, what you can do to help, and ACCURATE information about
animals in Israel, please visit CHAI's website, www.chai-online.org. A
detailed report will be posted on the website later today, Monday.