A incident happened in Elad the other day that led to an interesting psak by the rav of the city, Rav Shlomo Zalman Grossman, who also heads the local tzedaka organization.

A kitten had gotten stuck inside a gutter of a building. For 16 hours this kitten was crying out. The fire department was called to rescue the kitten, but after a couple hours of trying they were unable to remove it from where it was stuck. The only thing they could do was to break the wall to release the cat.

Obviously this would cost a lot of money, both the work and the repairs, and the question was who would pay for it.

The rav was asked, and Rav Grossman responded that it is allowed to use money from the public tzedaka fund to prevent tzaar baalei chaim.

After receiving the psak, they broke through the wall and saved the cat, treating its injuries after extraction. The cat was then sent for veterinary care.

At the end of the day it seems the cost is going to be sponsored by the City of Elad, rather than the local tzedaka fund, according to Bechadrei.

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And in a totally separate interesting psak regarding tzedaka money, Rav Benzion Mitsafi has paskened that one should not donate his money to the various tzedaka funds. Rav Mutsafi says, without naming any specific fund, that they waste too much money, and he cites the large amount of money that is spent on advertising and considers it too wasteful. (source: ladaat)