I WROTE briefly about the Ahmadi Muslims in January 2009 where I spoke of their worthiness, unaware of the predicaments that they have to endure as outlined by Farooq Aftab (Mailbag, June 4).

Strangely though, through them following the peaceful teachings of the Quran (to the letter) they are, it appears, persecuted and intimidated for doing so by the mullahs/clerics of other Muslim sects.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community, as their group is known, categorically rejects terrorism in any form, advocating bloodless ‘Jihad of the pen’ over the aggressive ‘Jihad of the sword’, cautioning against irrational interpretations by some other Muslim groups of Quranic pronouncements and misapplications of Islamic law.

They also champion empowerment and education of women with its members being the most law-abiding, educated and engaged Muslims in the world, propagating the true teachings of Islam with its messages of peace and tolerance while quietly being at the forefront of worldwide disaster relief through Humanity First, a charitable organisation.

Ahmadis recognise great religious founders such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Krishna and Buddha, to name a few and converge them into what they believe to be one true Islam which may be the crux with other Muslim faiths whom treat them like outcasts.

Their motto Love For All, Hatred For None sums the Ahmadiyya community up.

For me they are worthy neighbours and good friends of ours who should be supported from the demonic unwarranted barbaric acts they are confronted with.

Mr Corcoran

Lockwood

Dogged determination

I AM writing in response to your May 27 column, ‘Going to the dogs’.

John Avison confirms the inherent premise of the cruel and inhumane greyhound racing industry:Š that the greyhounds are short-term disposable investments.

Racing greyhounds endure lives of nearly endless confinement in sub-standard conditions.ŠWhen let out to race, they face the risk of injury and death.ŠEven the fastest dogs race for a only few years during which time they are expected to generate a profit for their owners.ŠOne example is Snip Nua, injured at 19 months and no longer an industry asset, deemed disposable.

Thank you, Mr Avison, for educating readers as to the exploitation of greyhounds during their ‘careers’ and for reporting the disgraceful statistics on the fate of racing greyhounds.

Dogs play an important role in our lives and deserve to be protected from individuals and industries that cause them harm. I have personally adopted 10 gentle, loyal, retired greyhounds and am one of the newest members of the Board of Directors of GREY2K USA, a national non-profit organisation that works to end the cruelty of dog racing.Š

Caryn Wood

Board of Directors, GREY2K USA

A death industry

CONGRATULATIONS to John Avison on his excellent piece about Dara O’Briain’s involvement with greyhound racing (‘Going to the dogs’, Examiner May 27).

As a greyhound protection organisation we would very much like Dara to speak out against the racing industry now that he’s aware of the suffering and slaughter of greyhounds that it causes.

The industry is smaller than it once was and the death toll is correspondingly less, but latest research indicates that more than 12,000 greyhounds, bred to supply the demand from British tracks, are ‘put down’ annually after failing to make the grade as racers or when their racing careers come to an end.

That’s why we are calling on the public not to attend dog tracks or bet on greyhound races so this appalling death-industry fades away through lack of financial support.

Our website is www.greyhoundaction.org.uk

Tony Peters

UK Co-ordinator, Greyhound Action

Breaking the record

HOW can I express my thanks to all the people who supported my Kirkwood Hospice coffee morning?

We broke the record. I will be able to pay £651 over to the hospice. Thank you so much for all the help I received from family and friends – you were all so generous and we had a super day. It makes it all so worthwhile.

Jean Boothroyd

Waterloo

Not good for cats

IN response to the letter ‘RSPCA changes will help the animals’ (Mailbag, May 26) from Sue Lowe, I feel that she is under some misapprehension as to how the Huddersfield Branch operated its cat fostering scheme.

All Huddersfield cats were given a full health check and treated for fleas and worms and had their ears checked for mites at Donaldson’s vets before going into our foster homes. If they showed any signs of illness while in the foster home they were again seen by Donaldson’s vets.

As mentioned in my previous letter, they were re-homed with vouchers to cover the cost of microchipping and vaccinations against cat flu, enteritis and feline leukaemia (Halifax do not vaccinate for leukaemia).

We felt it was very important to keep on top of this deadly disease as it is a virus in cats and there is no cure.

On the extremely rare occasion that someone did not take their cat to be vaccinated and microchipped they were contacted and asked to do so and strict checks were kept to ensure that they did.

All cats aged over six months were neutered before being re-homed but if they were under that age they also had a voucher to cover this. This was also checked to ensure that it was done. Nothing ‘dicey’ about this – the procedure was very strictly enforced.

If Sue Lowe’s foster cats were re-homed via the ‘showcase’ at Halifax I am interested to know how she received letters and emails from the adopters.

However ‘lovely’ a cattery is, a home environment has to be better.

We in Huddersfield never held on to healthy cats. They were re-homed as soon as a suitable adopter came along. Sometimes in a few days, sometimes longer, but never were they just sent out to the wrong kind of home just to move them on.

Some people do prefer to see cats in cages and to be able to choose from lots of cats, but others are quite positively against this and prefer to see them in a home environment.

Also, not everyone has transport, which makes it difficult to get to Halifax from the outlying areas of Huddersfield such as Holmfirth, Marsden, Denby Dale etc.

Also I am told the opening hours at Halifax are difficult for people with work commitments and school-age children. In the case of EARS scheme cats, even if the cat is in a foster home in Huddersfield, adopters still have to go to Halifax to complete the paperwork. Why?

Sue Lowe said that Halifax always took the ‘overflow’ from Huddersfield but I have spoken to our former co-ordinator and she said she constantly had calls from members of the public saying they had phoned Halifax regarding stray or abandoned cats only to be told that if they were in Huddersfield to ring her number, even though Halifax re-homed their cats to Huddersfield. The exceptions were the EARS scheme cats as Halifax did take those on when they had room.

As Mrs R Wyke suggested in her letter, the ideal would have been for both branches to carry on re-homing cats – Huddersfield from its foster homes and Halifax from its ‘showcase’. Surely something could have been worked out to enable this to happen.

The main reason that the Huddersfield and Halifax branches had to merge was because Huddersfield was finding it difficult to recruit trustees to act as treasurer and secretary. However, even as a fosterer involved in the organisation, I was not aware of this situation until it was too late. If there had been more publicity about this I am sure local people would have stepped in to help and our 125-year old branch would have been able to keep going.

As stated in my previous letter, I am convinced the changes that have taken place since the merger will definitely result in a retrograde step for the welfare of stray and abandoned cats in the Huddersfield area.

Sue Hilton

Highburton

Summer slummers

AH, it’s good to see the barbecue season is once again upon us.

Young men stripped to their waist alongside their screeching girlfriends fuelled on blue WKD as they grill their economy burgers and smart-price sausages while the repetitive bassline from a faceless techno track reverberates around the neighbourhood.

Roll on autumn!

Mark T

Salendine Nook

Tarmac troubles

EVERY time a paving slab cracks or loosens in Huddersfield town centre, next thing you know it’s replaced with tarmac.

It’s not good enough. The tarmac should go in the potholes. I nearly broke my ankle in a large pothole in the road on Ramsden Street.

In the council magazine Kirklees Together, council leader Clr Mehboob Khan talks of regenerating the town centre. We need the roads regenerating and the town conserving and a stop to the concrete monstrosities that keep popping up everywhere.

The town’s best bits are around the railway station. The rest is like a mismatch of buildings. We’ve lost the old Market Hall, the Pack Horse Yard and many wonderful cobbled alleys in the name of modernity.

Now we have lots of empty shops. The rent charged by Kirklees for many of these doesn’t help.

Hazel Spencer

Spring Grove