Hey Belinda, I should have taken a little more time yesterday, other than saying to take the second paragraph out, to tell you that the rest of your letter was really good. I think the way that it jumps right into the worst case situations, and then describes them in detail really put me off. I even read it to my husband to make sure I wasn't being too squeamish and he looked at me like I was crazy, so I know I am not too off in my thoughts. He's pretty logical and even-minded.
If you are entertaining the thought of changing the letter some to make it less harsh, you could be more general. Example: Instead of saying "I don't think you want Tiger to end up being ripped to shreds by a Pit Bull in training to fight", you could just say that some people obtain free cats to train pit bulls to fight, and they are killed in a very violent and gruesome manner by these vicious animals. Or instead of saying "spend his last few minutes on earth petrified while a snake squeezes the life out of him and devours him", you could just say that some people feed them to snakes as meals. You could say that some crazy people obtain them solely to abuse them, and others, referred to as "bunchers", buy them to make money by selling them to labs, where they are ultimately destroyed. Those descriptions are enough for me without getting so graphic. I think maybe the specific and graphic description of what happens to these cats is what turned me off right from the start. If you don't want to take out the gory details, at least switch the second and third paragraphs, so that people have some sort of warning of what they are about to read. Also, you could warn them that the next paragraph is graphic, and they can skip to the next if they don't need the details. I am one of those people who likes to have a choice what harsh mental pictures, or otherwise, enter my mind. It's the same for me with those people who hold up signs of aborted babies while I am driving by. I get really angry with them. I like to have the choice and I know others do too. If you decide you want to leave the letter the way it is, of course that is your decision. I am certainly not going to fault you either way. I was just giving my honest feedback to try to help you accomplish what it is you are trying to do. BTW, you are great at description; you should consider writing too! Have a great day! :) Wendy P.S. That guy David was a jerk. Can you remove postings that are not correct yourself? Would it be less stressful for you to do that, and just not worry about contacting them? Really though, people do need to know what goes on out there. Bad things do happen to animals. When I was coaching, we went out on the track one morning and the girls found a dead cat. I felt so bad for that cat, and the girls for having to see it. There really are some SICK people out there! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
