FEW of us like to contemplate the reality of animal slaughter. However, I have just found out about a practice so horrific that I feel that readers must be informed.

Viva! (Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals) has just completed an investigation which reveals that heavily pregnant animals are routinely sent to slaughterhouses.

They are given no special treatment -- the killing process is exactly the same. Each is goaded into the abattoir, stunned and hoisted up by one leg before having her throat cut. If the stun fails to work -- which occurs frequently -- she will bleed to death while conscious.

Her unborn babies are cut from the womb and literally thrown away -- even when fully formed and capable of independent life. Heartbreaking photographs show them lying dead on metal conveyor belts alongside their mother's intestines. I can hardly bear to think about the plight of these creatures who can still be seen kicking as their mothers bleed to death. Do we as a society really have such total disregard for life?

We all shed tears over animals being cruelly treated overseas but these animals are being slaughtered in British abattoirs. They have virtually no legal protection, so it is up to us to help them. I am determined to do everything I can to end these barbaric killings and I would like to appeal to readers to join me.

If you would like to help, please consider going vegetarian. Refusing to eat meat tells farmers and politicians that you are sick of this brutality and determined to bring about change. For free information on going veggie, you can contact Viva! at 12 Queen Square, Brighton BN1 3FD, tel 01273 777688.

Mary Gavin,

Ashfield Road, Bispham.