Dog at Sea

 The Taiwanese crew of the Insiko 1907 didn’t even have time to radio for help. Fire had broken out in the engine room and the 11 sailors (with the captain’s dog, Hokget) escaped to the front of the boat awaiting rescue. It drifted to within 220 miles of Hawaii and a cruise ship rescued the crew. Somehow, Hokget was forgotten onboard as the lost tanker drifted aimlessly in the largest ocean on the planet.

 

Sad story, but not the end.

 

Someone called the Hawaiian Humane Society in Honolulu, who alerted fishing boats. The media ran stories on the “lost dog.” Money – in the high 5-figures - poured in for a rescue effort used high-tech air and sea equipment. The U.S. Navy searched for the boat under the guise of “training exercises.”

 

Should we be inspired by the pure altruism and sense of caring for one of God’s creatures? Jews can justifiably be proud of the fact that it was our Torah which introduced the idea of ‘animal rights’ into the world. Unnecessarily harming an animal is a transgression of “Tzaar baal hachaim” – causing pain to living beings. Many stories exist of our rabbis and role models showing compassion for all living beings – the midrash actually says that Moses was chosen to be leader of the Jewish people in part because God saw his compassion for a lost sheep and concluded that one who lovingly takes care of his flock will also lovingly take care of His flock.

 

Still, I can’t help but be uncomfortable with the incident. Not simply because the money should have gone to saving hundreds of human lives – people in Africa die every day through lack of funds for clean water and medicine. What really bothers me is that the people involved didn’t seem to realize this. Is there any moral justification to spending nearly $100,000 on saving a dog when people are dying? What were they thinking?

 

A Chassidic Rebbe –known to be particularly kind and caring to all of God’s creatures - at the end of the 19^th Century saw citizens of modern Germany extravagantly caring for their dogs. He said, ‘being kind to animals is a mitzvah. But those who treat animals like people, are liable to become cruel to real people.’  Tragically, within 50 years he was proven correct.

 

Cruelty to animals is terrible. When people are dying, spending nearly $100,000 on a dog is even worse.

 

Best regards

Doron

 

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