When it’s about animals, it’s not just that it’s the right thing to do, it’s the necessary thing to do. It’s hard to change people’s opinions through conversation. Sometimes you need some kind of calamity to make people see. It brings more benefit than harm.
AMIR BOGEN: Ady Gil made his fortune in Hollywood and donates most of it to animal welfare. He’s a guardian angel to the animals. Raised in Ramat Gan, Ady Gil moved to Los Angeles and founded a screening equipment company. He uses his fortune to advance animal rights. He set in motion a bill in the United States that was signed into law: The FDA will no longer oblige companies to conduct experiments on animals for drug approval. In Israel, he spent $2 million rescuing 1,250 monkeys intended for research laboratories and annually donates a million dollars for similar purposes.
Ady Gil accumulated a vast fortune as a businessman in America. Sitting in his Los Angeles home, he thinks back to his 1960s childhood in a neighborhood for career army personnel in Ramat Gan. He remembers Yossi the dog: “He was a street dog who had been injured in an accident” he tells Ynet. “No one took the trouble to take care of him because no one thought it was important. I thought it was terrible. There was no one. Why wouldn’t you help an injured dog? You could take him to a vet. I realized that no one had any interest in helping anyone else. My parents too. People can be cruel. I had no one to learn from.” Years later, he still remembers Yossi the dog. Now, aged 64, as he devotes all his time, energy and money to the protection of animals wherever they may be: America, Japan, Israel…
In 1992, with his business partner Erez Ram, he founded “American High Definition”. The company took off. Five years later, he opened another mobile production services company named “Sweetwater” providing production equipment for Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel, Ryan Seacrest and more. In 2010 he sold these companies that employed 50 people, and designated the money he’d made to animal protection and welfare. “I don’t have a family and I’ve always loved animals.” It was at a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner that Ady was first inspired to take part in animal activism: “You could symbolically adopt a turkey with a donation saving it from the Thanksgiving table. I received a postcard with a picture of a turkey called Shalom…
Maybe that’s what gave me the idea of making peace with the animals and becoming a vegetarian. I first gave up beef, then chicken and fish. I later stopped eating eggs and milk. I’d turned vegan.” Gil’s commitment to animal rights went from strength to strength: “I’d go to demonstrations to save seals in California. Someone called me a hypocrite for wearing leather shoes. I thought about it. He was right. I haven’t bought a pair of leather shoes since. But I’m not puritanical about it. I’m not perfect. I have a collection of vintage cars some of which have leather seats. I bought them anyway.“ Gil’s feelings about animals didn’t stop with food and lifestyle. He also took on public activism and philanthropy. These brought him publicity and no end of trouble.
In January 2010, Gil donated a ship he owned called “MY Ady Gil” to “Sea Shepherd”, an organization run by Paul Watson who was trying to stop Japanese hunting boats from whaling in the Antarctic. Gil himself did not take part in the operation… “When it’s about animals, it’s not just that it’s the right thing to do, it’s the necessary thing to do. It’s hard to change people’s opinions through conversation. I can’t even make the local rabbi stop using chickens for kapparot before Yom Kippur”…
Despite his fighting spirit and rebellious nature, his greatest success was when he did play by the rules: In 2012, he set in motion a process that was ultimately formulated into a bill to stop animal testing for drug companies. It was recently written into American law. The outcome is that the FDA no longer requires animal testing for drug approval. “Everyone knows you can’t gauge drug toxicity or efficiency by experimenting on animals. Their DNA is different from ours. Why hasn’t the system been changed since 1939?..
Everyone’s afraid to speak out. We pushed the FDA into a corner, and got them to face the contention that animal testing is not essential for demonstrating human resistance to poisoning.” Ady’s ambitious initiative was conducted through an organization called CRS (Center for Responsible Science) that he founded anonymously (“politicians don’t like animal rights activists”) with former “Baywatch actress”, Alexandra Paul. Respected scientists served on the managing committee.
With their support, they sued the FDA. Although the lawsuit was unsuccessful as the prosecution failed to prove damages, the groundwork served as the foundation for a new initiative advanced by lobbyists in Washington. It caught the attention of Democratic Senator Corey Booker and Republican Senator Rand Paul. The bill was passed by the Senate and was signed into law by Joe Biden on December 29, 2022…
Gill currently manages a dog-rescue service in Los Angeles and continues his extensive philanthropic work. He donates an estimated $1 million a year to various animal rescue projects all over the world, largely in Israel. Although Gil has dissociated himself from Israel, even relinquishing his citizenship, he’s still involved in campaigning for animal rights in his country of birth. SOURCE…
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