1/4E LIVE in an age characterised by the rape of the environment - the destruction of the rain forests, the pollution of the air and seas.

In our own country, hundreds of hedgerows and forests are destroyed each year for the sake of more intense farming so Europe may accumulate larger butter and beef mountains.

There is also a vast cosmetics research industry, where piteous groups of animals are treated as an unending supply of disposable material. The obvious cruelties of factory farming are already recognised by government.

We have seen the greed of the ivory hunters who decimate the dwindling elephant herds of Africa and Asia so their product may become as precious as gold.

Animals and the rest of creation require our respect, not because of some individual sentimental quirk which is much more preferable to the mechanistic approach.

The suffering of so many animals is an affront to our humanity. After all, is it not man's preoccupation with self that has led to the problems we face today?

SHEILA BRENNAN (Mrs), Bombay Street, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.