I ALWAYS read Angela Kelly’s page, and must comment on her article “Caring more for pets than kids” (November 12)..

So we Brits are finally living up to the stereotype that we care more about our pets than our children.

I hope people support the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (which recommends how to care for animals) and campaign for the maximum jail sentence for animal cruelty to be raised from six months to something much more realistic.

Is it not true, Angela, that it is acceptable for us to be told how to look after animals, but there would be uproar if we told parents how to look after their children?

Pet owners can be fined (eventually — ask the RSPCA how long an animal must suffer before this happens) for mistreating animals, but parents can’t be fined for endlessly shovelling burgers and cola into their kids.

You are spot on, Angela, it takes real commitment to look after an animal. Sadly, many owners do not have this.

It takes real commitment to look after a child. Sadly, many parents lack this, too.

The end results are children who are severely malnourished, their emotional and physical health badly damaged. The cost to the NHS, education and police is enormous.

Animal lovers are often asked why they support animal charities when so many children are starving and abused.

But the real answer, which our Government has failed to notice, is that if animal abusers were monitored, child abuse would be a thing of the past. Baby P endured a brief and agonising life. His death, at 17 months, is not simply a chronicle of private savagery. His is the story of how a baby can be tortured and killed in the full glare of officialdom in a country that thinks itself among the most compassionate on earth.

Baby P’s mother hid not only her own neglect, but the presence in her filthy, flea-infested home of a boyfriend whose interests were said to include torturing animals. Care workers found dead mice and chicks in their home. Yes, it’s a fact that child abusers usually begin their career in torture by practicing on animals. Surely prevention is better than another child death!

A Cartmell Bolton