80 dogs, cats could die if shelter closed

“I’m afraid they will kill all the animals because we have nowhere else to go,” evicted owner of Ramle shelter says.

By RUTH EGLASH
dog 311 (photo credit: courtesy)
dog 311
(photo credit: courtesy)
Michal Golan has not slept for two nights. Her biggest fear – the one that has kept her awake for more than 48 hours – is that representatives from her municipality will arrive on at her door next Tuesday, together with police officers, and slaughter some 80 stray cats and dogs that she has cared for at her animal shelter since 2004.
“I have no idea what will happen,” Golan told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
“I’m afraid they will kill all the animals because we have nowhere else to go.”
Two months ago, the Ramle District Court ordered Golan to vacate her animal shelter’s current premises on Moshav Mishmar Ayalon, near Ramle.
Since then, she has been praying for a miracle.
“I’ve lost hope now and just don’t know where to turn,” said Golan, who was first interviewed by the Post last month and who has since appeared on national television appealing to Israelis anywhere in the country to come forward and donate a piece of land to help her and the animals.
“At the moment, I am writing to Knesset members to ask them for help,” she said. “Even if I could find a dog kennel to take us in at a reduced rate, that could be a short-term solution.”
Even though Golan told the judge in her case that by evicting her, he was also evicting the 40 dogs and 40 cats that live in the shelter with her, the court order was handed down on November 4.
“I invested NIS 150,000 of my own savings to build this place, and I need at least that amount to move the shelter and rebuild it somewhere else,” said the 53-year-old, who calls her enterprise “Haklavim Shel Michal” (www.michaldogs.com) and spent her life savings to start the shelter 15 years ago.
According to Golan, the agreement at her current premises was supposed to have lasted for 10 years, but after only three, the landowner reneged and has been trying to evict her and the dogs ever since.
“I will not let them be taken to a place where they put animals down,” said Golan, explaining that nearly all the dogs and cats had been found abandoned or neglected, and most are elderly animals that no one wants.
“But unless we find a new home, 90 percent of the animals will die,” she went on.
“What I need right now is just some really good people who will help me out.”