I reply to RE Leadbitter’s letter condemning shooting a goose.

I agree with the comment: “Children should be encouraged from an early age to respect and care for all sentient beings.”

That means going vegan.

It is not just geese who feel pain. All animals, including the ones which we eat, feel pain.

Let us not also forget that those used in the dairy and egg industry usually live longer and are treated as badly if not worse than their ‘meat’ counterparts.

Indeed, they all end up in the same slaughterhouse anyway.

The best justification that we have for killing billions of animals every year is that they taste good.

That simply cannot suffice as a moral justification.

Emily Stevens, Kipling Avenue, Woodingdean