The Animal Protection Law states a yearly budget of 4.5 million ILS to be allocated specifically for the purpose of “reducing the overpopulation of stray cats”. In actuality, this budget is given to local authorities every year to be used for spaying and neutering of community cats.
The protocol for allocating the budget that is meant to cover the whole year is habitually published significantly late, more often than not only after Let the Animals Live files a petition. This year we also had to submit a petition and demand the Ministry of Agriculture to allocate the budget, as well as the budget for reducing the overpopulation of roaming dogs as stated in the Dog Control Law. Finally, the protocol was published on April 22, 2025, and local authorities filed their requests for support, but it was only in June – six months late – that the Ministry published the list of authorities to receive support. Out of 128 authorities that submitted requests for support on 16(!) won, including strong authorities with a regular budget for spaying and neutering of cats. This miniscule number stems from the fact that, while in the past the Ministry’s support covered 50% of cats spayed/neutered, it is now at 70%.
Spaying and neutering of community cats is the responsibility of the local authority and should be done on a regular basis, with no dependence on the support budget from the Ministry of Agriculture. In actuality, we know that many authorities do not do so without the support, and will not do it at all unless given the support. Now, the local authorities that won have less than 6 months to perform the spaying and neutering.
