I WON'T be the only one dismayed and angry at the scenes on television news of lame, emaciated sheep standing in abject misery, while lambs staggered weakly in quagmire pastures where there wasn't a single blade of grass to sustain them.

No doubt these unfortunate animals are doomed to be culled anyway, but that is no excuse for this cruelty. It's not the farmers' fault.

They are hog-tied by regulations and local vets must be going mad with frustration.

If any individual kept an animal in comparable conditions in a domestic situation, he/she would be prosecuted and fined.

Quite right too!

It isn't long ago that fox-hunting was debated with such emotion, but who is speaking up about the disgraceful hurt being imposed on a multitude of farm animals?

What a two-faced bunch we are.

Mrs Audrey Curtis,

Naburn Lock Caravan Park,

Naburn,

York.

Updated: 12:53 Saturday, April 21, 2001