*hugs* to all of you. I hope I didn't offend anyone with my post! I guess all we can do is ban together and do all we can to help stamp out violence (to animals and people!) It's not that animal cruelty is more important, it's that it's just as important to that of child/spousal/human abuse and needs to be addressed as such.

4Feline, your story made me think about something that happened on a street close to my home a couple of months ago. A couple of teenage kids were killed in a camaro when they ran off the road and hit a pole, I think it was. The driver had just gotten his license and the car was just too powerful and they were going too fast. A very common story, unfortunately. I was heartbroken when I heard that story. I feel so sad and helpless when I hear stories like this about young lives so carelessly lost. Whenever I drive by that spot where the fatal accident occurred, there are always fresh flowers and a cross placed where the kids died. It is sad, and I know what you mean about the circumstances being different. I cry for stuff like this, I cry for the abused animals...but in different ways and for different reasons.