Posted on 10/22/2003 3:39:33 PM PDT by yonif
It's not just people who come on aliya. The number of four-legged olim who reach our shores might make even Noah take note
For many people coming on aliya, their pets are like American Express cards. They wouldn't think of leaving home without them. At times, the number of dogs and cats - not to mention the birds, fish and even turtles who tag along - who board El Al aliya flights would surprise even Noah.
Compared to many other countries, Israel is a pet-friendly destination, a fact that makes it easier for their humans to come too.
Dori Gould, who came to live in Maale Adumim in July, along with her with five cats and five dogs, credits an article in the Jerusalem Post with helping her decide to come.
"It happened on a visit to Israel," she says. "On the return flight, we were given copies of the Post, and one of the articles was about keeping pets in Israel. I decided right then: If my cats and dogs were welcome here, I was making aliya."
ACCORDING to an airline spokesman, El Al doesn't compile statistics about the percentage of people who bring pets, although it must be considerable. Just recently the airline began offering 20 additional airline points to anyone who brings their pet on a flight. The airlines rules are simple: You need to notify them "well in advance;" you need evidence of health vaccinations; pets under 8 kg can fly in a cage in the cabin, those over 8 kg must fly in the cargo hold; and no dogs can be transported in cargo if a deceased person is being flown home for burial.
The State of Israel has some additional requirements about veterinarian examinations, but on the whole, bringing a pet on aliya is not difficult.
DORI Gould may hold the current record for most pets on board, but for many years, Ilana Berner of Caesarea believes she held the record. When she came to Israel as a returning resident in 1985, she brought two dogs and four cats.
Why did she decide to bring so many?
"That was easy," she says. "If I couldn't have brought my pets, I wouldn't have come myself."
Berner's dedication to her menagerie is echoed by many others.
David Bogner brought his dog Jordan along, and says he grilled the airline personnel for a half-hour before accepting their assurances that the cargo area for pets was perfectly safe.
In El Al, the cargo area is kept at the same temperature and pressure and with the same air supply as the passenger cabin.
But Bogner's dog Jordan is unique. He's a trained companion dog the Bogner family inherited from an elderly friend who couldn't take Jordan when she moved to a nursing home. This gave the Bogner a back-up plan: If the cargo conditions hadn't met with his approval, he says, he was prepared to "put on dark glasses and do my Stevie Wonder imitation" to take the dog with him in the cabin. Jordan is, he says, trained for exactly that situation.
IN terms of dedication to a pet, you don't get much more committed than Robert DeFulgentis is to Molly, his
7-year-old salmon-colored cockatoo. With a wingspan of two feet, DeFulgentis admits that Molly "is a big girl." She officially traveled in a cage for the flight but actually spent most of the time perched on DeFulgentis shoulder, greeting aisle crawlers with a friendly "Hel-lo!"
Was she nervous during the flight?
"Of course not," says DeFulgentis. "She's a bird." Molly was probably comforted by being able to share Bogner's airline dinner.
"She liked the corn," he says, "but when she eats peppers, she really prefers just the seeds."
Everyone has stories about compiling all the documentation and forms required of pet owners, but DeFulgentis had special issues: his cockatoo is a parrot, and is therefore considered an endangered species. He had to obtain clearances from the US Department of Agriculture, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, from two states, New York and Florida, and finally from Israel's National Parks Service. He estimates he spent about $1,000 compiling the paperwork, another $185 to ship her, and then built a huge $1,600 cage for her when he arrived.
"What else could I do?" he says. "Molly's my bird!"
ROBERTA Cohen had a hair-raising incident in transporting the pet she brought along. Her four-footed friend is a turtle named Helmet. That was the first time, her aliya emissary said, that she'd processed papers for a box turtle.
According to Cohen, Helmet is high-domed and khaki colored. "We should have called her Rimon " she says. "She looks like a hand grenade."
In fact, Helmet almost caused an international incident on her flight to Israel. When Cohen arrived at the check in counter, the ticket agent noticed her ticket specified "pet." He asked, "Where's your pet?"
"Right here," answered Cohen, reaching into her bag and pulling out the khaki-colored turtle.
In seconds, both she and the unsuspecting turtle were surrounded by five ashen-faced security guards who had to be convinced that Helmet, while very much alive not a grenade.
ARE pets stressed by the aliya process?
Well, who isn't? But at least according to Brooke Gerber of Beersheva, most of the stress occurred well before she left.
Gerber made aliya with her dog Maxwell Houdini a few months ago. Max, she says, was very disturbed by all the suitcases and packing. Whenever he could, he'd jump into an open suitcase and look at her with pleading eyes.
"I tried to explain that it was going to be okay," says Berger. "He wasn't going to be left behind. But I know he was nervous."
Pet owners and veterinarians appear divided on the issue of giving four-footed travelers a tranquilizer, or letting them fly "cold turkey."
Laurie Silver's veterinarian suggested she give her beagle Michal something to make her a little drowsy for the flight.
"I tested it once before we left," Silver says, "but it didn't seem to have any effect. So for the actual flight, I upped the dosage a little. I had a pretty drowsy dog waiting for me in the baggage claim area."
More often it's the pet owners who suffer the stress. One wonders how Dori Gould, with the five dogs and five cats, survived it. To begin with, she and her father designed and built a mini-train to convey the five big dog cages - each topped with a cage containing a cat - through the airport.
"The cages were on wheels," she says, "and they all hooked together. We looked like a circus."
They must have, because New York journalists went wild taking pictures. But even with her import permit in place, the rules state that anyone bringing in more than two dogs or cats (each) is required to qualify as an importer.
Gould had to struggle right up to the last minute to get all the pets accommodated. El Al decided that all the dogs would ride in cargo, and all the cats would ride in the passenger cabin, under the seats. But Gould herself, of course, would occupy only one seat. She had to find volunteers to "adopt" and agree to take responsibility - and make legroom for - the other four cats on the 11-hour flight. Gould credits Nefesh B'Nefesh staffer Doreet Freedman for smoothing out all the wrinkles, both with El Al, and in helping her to find volunteers to claim the cats. "I could never have done it without Doreet," she says.
MORE trauma was waiting for Gould after she arrived. She'd arranged a sublet apartment before she came, fully disclosing all the animals, and had no problem with either the owners or the lessor. But two hours after arriving in her new apartment, an irate next-door neighbor arrived on the scene with a lawyer in tow and caused total havoc. The neighbor threatened legal action and succeeded in getting Gould evicted.
"I was kicked out three hours after I moved in," says Gould. But it all worked out for the best. Another angel materialized - this one in the form of the local AACI regional director who arrived on the scene and basically took over. The AACI director found a lawyer to advise Gould, found a real estate agent who located a new apartment within a day, and even went to the local store to buy kitty litter and animal food. "The home I have now is a better arrangement," says Gould. "But still, I was beyond emotional and physical exhaustion by the time I went to bed that night."
Was the trauma worth it?
"Oh, of course! No question, ever," says Gould. "These are my babies. There was no question of leaving them."
In fact, two of her cats are world travelers. Gould rescued two kittens from an Egyptian animal shelter while she was in Egypt on a two year work-study program. The cats, Jack and Moe, returned to the US with her, and then came to Israel.
"I guess they have tri-country citizenship," she says. Some of Gould's pets may even find work in Israel. In the US, her dog Imaj is certified as a "therapy dog,", able to help people with disabilities, those undergoing physical rehabilitation, or senior citizens who need a little companionship. Gould, a freshly minted PhD, says, "I'd like to see if I could find some way to use Imaj's talents here in Israel. She's fantastic with people who need help."
ANY stress the pets, or any of the owners, felt while going through the aliya process seems to have been sublimated in the joy of being in Israel.
One of Ilana Berner's dogs had been with the family when they visited Israel a year before making aliya. Ultimately they moved into the same home they had stayed at before, a fact not forgotten by Berner's dog, Niki. While visiting the previous year, Niki buried a bone in the back yard. When she arrived this time, Niki made a beeline to the corner of the yard where she'd buried the bone. Within a few minutes, she'd dug up her old treat and settled down for a good chew. Home at last!
Now I'm wondering what, ahem, "incident," led to that rule!
The line forms behind me, pal. :^)
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