Chullin 52 – Clawed by a Wolf

If most of the ribs of an animal are broken, that animal is terefah. Rav Kahana and Rav Assi had two questions for Rav, which they wisely combined into one: “If a rib on one side of a vertebra and on another side was uprooted, what is the law?” They also wanted to know about one rib, but figured that if Rav gets angry when answering their question, then even one rib makes it a terefah. Rav answered, “That animal is split in half! It is nevelah!” This was a form of getting angry, and they had their two answers.

If the skull of an animal was crushed in its greater part, the animal is terefah. If it was clawed by a wolf or a larger animal, it is a terefah due to the deposits of decayed meat under the predator's claws, which leads to bacterial infection. Some say that even a cat's clawing can be dangerous – but only if the cat is angry because of the prey's escape. Once a cat was chasing a chicken, and the door was slammed in its face, and the cat left five red spots on the door.

Art: William Henry Hamilton Trood - Cats