Fleshing out the pet food issue

Don Tallis wants us to think that dolphins and whales are killed especifically for pet food. This is incorrect. ("Dolphins die for cat food too", Mailbox, February 20).

It has been reported that in a desperate attempt to rid themselves of unwanted whale and dolphin meat, the Japanese are putting it in pet food in Japan. This shows a total disregard for animals as whale and dolphin meat contains potentially deadly chemicals such as mercury and cadmium.

Pet food manufacturers in the UK should let us know if this meat is used here. A response from them would be helpful.

The fact my cats eat fish/flesh does not make me a hypocrite. It is natural for carnivorous animals to eat flesh and cats are carnivores.

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What an animal eats has no bearing on what we, human beings with conscience and the ability to make moral and ethical choices should do.

Animals are not deliberately bred and slaughtered to produce cat food; it is the waste that is used. Humans are responsible for domesticating cats. Humans are responsible for the huge cat population by failing to neuter or spay them, or by deliberately breeding them for financial gain.

Sometimes, a compromise is necessary. If I am able to provide a home for cats which would otherwise be euthanised or in a shelter I will do so, even though it necessitates feeding them flesh. If commercial cat food was unavailable domestic cats would soon revert to the wild and catch their own dinners and if prey was unavailable they would starve. That is nature!

Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.

Ed Miliband is right to demand a vote in the House of Commons on a tax on mansions over £2 million.

With the economy struggling, wages frozen and millions of people unemployed, everyone should be doing their bit to help Britain's economy recover.

The money would be used to reintroduce the 10p tax rate for millions of people on middle and low incomes – helping them out in difficult times.

This is right – everyone should be paying their fair share.

I hope readers will write to their MP and ask them to vote in favour of the mansion tax.

Naomi Pennington, Great Glen.