Stopping
The Strychnine
F
first, Nina Natelson
gave up fish. Then she
refused to eat cows or
chickens. In the end, she gave
up all dairy products.
"It's wrong to cut up
humans and eat them," she
said. "It's wrong to do the
same thing to animals."
Nina Natelson is one of the
leading Jewish voices in the
fight for animal rights. A
past activist with PETA,
People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, she is
founder and president of
CHAI, Concern for Helping
Animals in Israel.
Based in Alexandria, Va.,
and funded through dona-
tions and grants, CHAT is no
small group of down-home
folks who simply think the
world of their Fifis and
Spots. It has had a profound
impact on Israeli society.
CHAI has cosponsored a
number of animal programs
with the Israeli Ministry of
Education, has brought to an
end the Israel Defense
Force's use of dogs as bomb
decoys, and is taking to the
Israeli Supreme Court a
researcher who Ms.
Natelson said was "sewing
kittens eyelids shut and
sticking electrodes in their
brains."
The case represents the
first time in Israeli history
that a researcher has been
charged with cruelty to
animals.
Ms. Natelson, who owns
three cats and three dogs,
has been interested in
animals since childhood. She
said she was influenced in
her decision to join the
animal rights movement by
a cousin in Israel.
"I appreciated his hon-
esty," she said. • "So I always
tried to think about issues
and be honest about them
myself. One day I realized
the meat on my plate could
well be my own cat. A cat, a
cow, what's the difference?
Flesh is flesh."
Ms. Natelson left her posi-
tion with PETA in 1983, de-
termined to take a break
from animal rights,
"exhausted from all the suf-
28
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1991
Nina Natelson:
"One day I realized the meat on
my plate could well be my own
cat."
fering I had seen." A 1984
trip to Israel convinced her
otherwise. Deeply troubled
by the countless starving
cats and the sight of a dog
with a broken leg lying in
the middle of the sidewalk,
ignored by passersby, Ms.
Natalson felt she had no
choice but to return to her
cause. What she witnessed
in Israel, she said, "is
against everything Judaism
stands for."
Since then, Ms. Natelson
and other CHAI members,
who number some 1,500
worldwide, have initiated
numerous projects to help
animals in Israel. They are
working to eliminate
strychnine poisoning, used
to kill stray cats and dogs,
and replace it with the more
humane sodium pentobar-
bitol. With strychnine,
animals suffered convul-
sions and asphyxiation for
24 hours before dying.
CHAT also has distributed
a rabies vaccine to every
animal shelter in Israel.'
Israel's previous method of
dealing with the disease was
mass poisonings, Ms.
Natelson said. CHAI pro-
vides veterinary supplies to
and helps fund animal
shelters.
Together with the Min-
istry of Education, CHAT in-
itiated the first "humane
education contest" in the
Israeli school system, and
CHAT secured an ambulance
to be used for animal rescue
in Israel. It never arrived.
Despite appeals from 25 U.S.
senators and the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congrega-
tions of America, the Israeli
Ministry of Finance refused
to admit the vehicle unless
CHAI paid $20,000 duty,
Ms. Natelson said.
Among CHAI's most
publicized projects was its
crusade to end the IDF's use
of dogs as bomb decoys. The
army was attaching bombs
to dogs, then sending them
into enemy territory where
both animals and human be-
ings perished. CHAI suc-
cessfully spearheaded a
campaign to stop the prac-
tice.
Ms. Natelson said she has
seen improvement in animal
rights in Israel. But she's
not satisfied with the Jewish
community's involvement in
the issue there or in the
United States.
"Not a single major Jewish
organization spends 1 cent to
relieve animal suffering in
the United States or Israel,"
she said. `!No national Jew-
ish organizations have taken
a stand opposing the various
cruelties against animals."
To Ms. Natelson, no differ-
ence exists between the pain
of human beings and the
pain of animals. Nor does
she sympathize with those
who suggest that human life
is more valuable than that of
animals.
"What about the retarded
child who's not 'equal to'
Einstein?" she asked. "In
the words of (philosopher
and utilitarianism
originator) Jeremy Ben-
tham, the question isn't how
much you reason. It's
whether you suffer." ❑
E. A.
"animal 'rights' terrorists"
who have vandalized
medical research
laboratories. "Remember,"
reads an i1FAR brochure,
"there is a victim for every
animal that is stolen, a face
behind every brick that is
spray-painted, and shattered
hope lying beside each piece
of destroyed laboratory
equipment."
"I'm not the kind of guy
who gets in his car and can't
wait to run over soft, furry
animals," Mr. Berger said.
"But my Jewish education
has taught me that while all
life is sacred, human life
takes precedence. If the
choice is losing my eyesight
or having another heart at-
tack versus the life of a
monkey or a dog, that's no
choice."
Animal rights activists are
"extremists," he said.
"PETA is always talking
about researchers doing
head injury experiments on
monkeys. But most of them
(researchers) are bending
over backward to accom-
modate the animals. Let's
get rid of the anecdotes and
talk about the facts."
T
hough treating ani-
mals kindly is indeed
demanded by Hala-
chah, Jewish law does not
support the activists' position
that animals should be held
in the same esteem as human
beings.
Despite PETA Director In-
grid Newkirk's "A rat is a
pig is a dog is a boy"
philosophy, and Concern for
Helping Animals in Israel
Director Nina Natelson's
belief that "animals are
equal (in value of life) to
human beings," the Torah
holds that animals were
"created for the benefit of
mankind," according to
Rabbi Eliezer Cohen.
"Humans are not allowed
to cause unnecessary pain or
suffering to the animal," he
said. "But to use them for
human need is considered
proper." Thus man is
obligated to provide animals
in his care with proper living
conditions, like a clean cage
and adequate food; but he
may use those same
creatures for experiments if
this could result in a medical
cure.
"The Torah clearly states
that animals are not equal to
human beings," Rabbi
Cohen said. "There's no
comparison to make. To do
so denigrates the sanctity of
human life." ❑
"My Jewish
education
has taught
me that
while all life
is sacred,
human life
takes
precedence."
— Joel Berger