Don't leave Pet Talk over this, please. You were fooled, as are many, by a realistic-looking hoax. In the future, please, before you send anything like that along, check urban legends sites - most all of the emails of this sort are listed, and the sites are updated frequently.

I get this sort of thing all the time, from people I know and people I don't know because I have several email addresses, including the one for nominations to Pet of the Day, that are public. I don't get angry at anyone, if I think it MIGHT be legit, I look it up before I respond in any way.

We love you and don't want you to be hurt any more by this hoax, so please stay!