GEN34 Judaism has always manifested humane attitude to animals. This attitude is inherent in the biblical account of the creation of living creatures [this verse].  The act of blessing is an expression of care, concern, and love. Animals were placed in “subjection” to man Genesis 1:26.  Their subordinate position granted man the right to domesticate them, to use them as beasts of burden, and to derive whatever benefits are beneficial to him. However, man’s sovereign power did not give him a license to mistreat or torment helpless creatures. Indeed, according to the Talmud, man was initially barred from using animals as a source of food, a right granted only after the Flood Sanhedrin 59b. The significance of God’s “blessing” of animals was lost upon primitive man. Living creatures were subjected to torture in superstitious rites designed to propitiate evil spirits. Cruelty to animals did not provide any objection or protest. Biblical intimations of a loving relationship between God and all living creatures had a profound influence upon the universalist poetic creativity of the psalmists. God’s promise to provide food for all creatures Genesis 1:30 inspired the psalmists’ depiction of beasts looking to heaven for their subsistence.  Psalm 36:7; 104:14, 21; 24, 27; 147:9; 148. BLOCH 79