I am a vegetarian, and am only not a vegan because the eggs I eat come from my hens in my garden, and I don't have a cockerel, and also because I personally know the organic farmer and his herd from whom we get our milk and dairy products come form.

I am not religious, but do believe that the world is there, and at the moment we only have one, so we should try to keep it as clean and safe as possible. I believe that cruelty to animals is very wrong, and people should be prosecuted for cruel behavior, just as they would as if the animals were human.

But, I don't agree with some of the things said on your site.

For example, I too believe that the way animals are sometimes treated is awful, and that just because of tradition that people should be allowed to get away with what they do. But when you write "this photo leaves no question in our minds about the depravity of the people who are involved in this trade.", about cats in a market in Korea, I think you should consider the peoples' lives, and their families' lives. I am not agreeing with the idea that it's ok to leave animals in cages, dehydrated, and with dead family members close by. I personally think the world would be better if everyone was vegetarian. I think that you should think about the impact of your words, and how it affects the reader into hating a certain group of people.

The people in Australia, for example, with the dead cat tree.

Cats are not an indigenous species to Australia, and consequently doing harm to the local eco systems by catching local wildlife. They have no natural predators, and so their population numbers are rising. If the local people want to get rid of the cats, they will do it by whatever means is easiest, partially due to human laziness, and the hang the cats in the tree because they know that animals don't like the sight or smell of their own dead.

i think that your site is on it's way to helping, and may already have swayed some people's ideas and opinions about animal cruelty, but some things should be thought through more before being included.

Thank you for your time

Yours sincerely

Rebecca Walpole

Suffolk, England.

Reply from Frank and Mary

Dear Rebecca:

Thank you for your comments.

It obvious from your letter that your hens are companions, and not commercial production units and the industry refers to them. The problem is that the vast majority of egg production (over 95%) is done in a very cruel manner. The same thing is true of milk production. We have been on several small family run dairy farms and personally witnessed the cruelty on them too.

We have corresponded with the people in Australia about the cat tree people, and they have tried to get them to institute a trap-spay-neuter-release program which has proven to be very effective in controlling cat populations in other areas. They have refused and left the impression that they are doing this just to be cruel and mean spirited.

If we saw any commercial operations that was truly compassionate, we would report on it (them), but we have found none. This is why we have written the things we have.

In the Love of the Lord,

Frank and Mary