Animal, Human Cruelty

Thank you, Howard Rosenberg, for alerting me to A&E;’s “Investigative Reports: The Cruelty Connection” (“Strike 1 Is Often Against an Animal,” Feb. 15).

As an “activist”--as the program called me and my ilk, with no hint of disparagement for once--I am extremely gratified that what we activists have known for years is finally making it into the mainstream: If a boy is cruel to an animal, watch out! To quote Tolstoy: As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will always be battlefields. I wonder how many gang members in L.A. are vegetarians for ethical reasons.

Rosenberg’s column and A&E;’s program made me see a faint glimmer of hope that one day, as Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) said, we will extend our circle of empathy to all sentient creatures. We could start by looking in our refrigerators at all that violent, cruel death--and stop feeding such pain and suffering to our children.

CHRISTINE WATT

(A vegan)

Irvine

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Many, many thanks to Howard Rosenberg for exposing the link between animal abuse and human abuse. I have always believed that if a person will abuse an animal, that person is very likely to abuse a human being sooner or later.

One merely needs to do an Internet search on this subject to see that Rosenberg’s information is very well-supported. In fact, there is a feature article about it in the most recent issue of Animal Times, which can be seen at https://www.peta-online.org.

Parents and teachers must learn to watch for these signs of violence in children, and people who see adults practicing cruelty against animals should report it and do anything possible to stop it on the spot without resorting to violence themselves. Doing so may well prevent future cases of domestic abuse.

BEVERLY SHIELDS

Long Beach