Minister proposes deporting all stray cats and dogs from Israel

An Israeli cabinet minister has risked the wrath of his nation's animal lovers by proposing to send stray dogs and cats to another country as an alternative to government-funded efforts to sterilise them.

"Use the budget to transfer stray dogs and/or cats of one gender (all the males or all the females) to a foreign nation that will agree to accept them," Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel suggested in a leaked letter to a cabinet colleague.

The proposal, which a spokesman for Mr Ariel said had been rejected after initial consultations, was roundly criticised by animal rights activists and bemused opposition politicians.

"No way am I going to apply for a foreign passport for Pitzkeleh," former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tweeted above a photo showing the smiling politician reclining on a sofa and feeding her cat.

Mr Ariel, a religious Jew and a member of the far-right Jewish Home party, is reported to view spaying and neutering as possible violations of God's directive "to be fruitful and multiply" and ritual law that prohibits animal cruelty.

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