Could Elizabeth Lambert explain her comment: "Everything has a right to life – and yet doesn't"("Wasps – and the right to life", Mailbox, September 24)?

The statement is both confusing and contradictory.

However, what was very clear was her comment: "Look at what is slaughtered to provide food for us. I never give this a second thought." This statement displays a total disregard and lack of respect for the lives of many animals.

Recently on a TV nature programme there was footage of a tribesman in a remote part of the world where food is scarce, throwing a spear to kill an animal for food. The tribesman knelt over the dead animal, stroked it and kissed it. He then looked up to the sky and said a prayer.

The commentator said that these actions were demonstrating the high regard and respect the tribesman had for the animal as well as giving thanks for its life.

In our country and many others where there is a plentiful supply of a wide variety of food, there is no need to eat meat. However, the habit of eating it is difficult to break. We should all be grateful for our food. In particular, meat eaters should have some respect for the animals they eat; animals which have short, miserable, often painful lives and destined to an untimely death.

Dr Albert Schweitzer spoke of "reverence for life". Animals used for food are worthy of a lot more than "a second thought".

By the way, for reasons best known to themselves, the exceptional number of wasps this year have left me alone. I haven't seen one in my garden!

Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.