Ady Gil is an Israeli animal rights activist living in Hollywood,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Gil was raised in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

, he joined the

Israel Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...

from where he retired at the age of 22. He emigrated to USA. There in partnership with Erez Ram, also a veteran of the

Israeli Defence Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

s, he founded in 1992, American Hi Definition Inc, a company involved in high definition big screen video projection. In 1997 with Erez Ram and Joe Shckelford they started another company, Sweetwater Digital. In November 2010, the companies were acquired by

NEP Broadcasting NEP Group, Inc. (formerly NEP Broadcasting LLC) is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based and privately owned international production company that provides outsourced teleproduction services for major events throughout the world. Its facilities a ...

. After this sale Gil became a full-time animal rights activist. He donated US$6 million to his organization Ady Gil World Conservation. Gil set up a shelter for cats and dogs in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and paid for sterilization of 6000 cats in Israel. He built a large roosting structure for eagles in a wildlife sanctuary on Mount Carmel. Gil donated millions to

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its g ...

to refurbish a ship for use for its anti-whaling campaigns. The vessel, the former ''

Earthrace MY ''Ady Gil'' (formerly ''Earthrace'') was a , wave-piercing trimaran originally created as part of a project to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. Powered by biodiesel fuel, the vessel was also capable of ...

'', was renamed ''Ady Gil'', and sank 290 km from Antarctica after a collision incident with the Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru No 2. The loss of the ship has been the subject of litigation between Gil and

Paul Watson Paul Franklin Watson (born December 2, 1950) is a Canadian-American conservation and environmental activist, who founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-poaching and direct action group focused on marine conservation activism. Th ...

founder and director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In December 2014, Gil paid US$2 million to rescue 1300 monkeys from a facility that bred them so that they would not be exported to the United States for being subjected to experiments that maimed and killed them. Ady Gil World Conservation sued Los Angeles Animal Services for closing animal shelters during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil, Ady Living people Israeli businesspeople Israeli animal rights activists Year of birth missing (living people)