AS soon as I read your article Fur Flies Over Cat Centre it compelled me to write in reply I was that angry.

I cannot believe these people are against a "rescue" shelter, of all things, when we claim to be a nation of animal lovers. Small minded people, in a small minded world.

Having owned cats for more than 10 years I would like to put Colin Hatton straight on two points which he raised. How are these cats going to trigger his daughter's asthma attacks? My sister suffered them when she came into my house, so I know only too well that his daughter would have to actually be in the cat house or touch the cats to suffer an attack. As to attracting vermin, what do cats do? Why were they brought over here in the first place? Because they kill vermin and are renowned for being mousers. So how on earth can a rescue shelter attract vermin, surely these creatures wouldn't be seen within a mile of this shelter. Besides, cats are notoriously clean animals. You never see their dirt lying in mounds on the pavement or in parks.

Colin Hatton said: "We just cannot believe that this sort of centre should exist in the middle of a residential area".

This sort of centre! I thought we were talking about a cat rescue shelter, not a home for drug addicts or a halfway house for criminals.

The reasons for opposing this rescue shelter are ludicrous. I do not believe for one second that there would be a traffic problem - this is a rescue shelter, not a tourist attraction.

All these people should stop for one moment and think about this - would you rather these poor homeless and sick cats be drowned?

Infuriated cat lover

Haydock (name and address supplied)

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