Dear Editor,

So the late Leona Helmsley left all her money to her dog that eats off of silver plates — Good! Friday’s editorial had apoplexy over the very idea. Maybe Ms. Helmsley preferred the unconditional love of her dog after being shafted by her own kind?

If I had money, I’d leave it to my cat. A lot of other people feel the same way, without apology. Animals — our pets — are better than most people; not only that, they are the first nation. They were here first, and they never destroy or over-populate the environment they live in. God should have stopped before Adam and Eve.

One hopes nothing like us looks out across a savannah again and dream of a new world, after destroying the remarkable Planet Earth. For whatever time is left, I hope all the beasts get to eat off silver plates.

Oh! A baby human. How cute! Not when unplanned or not wanted and living/dying in a slum that has pushed out all wildlife, green forests and clean rivers. Please, someone drop planeloads of condoms 20 years ago!

Every nation, race, color, ethnicity worldwide is destroying its environment. Editorialize about the disappearance of 70 percent of the world’s honey bees, those remarkable little creatures that pollinate the world’s food supplies. Well, I guess it’s back to the old campfire and hitting each other over the heads with clubs for us.

So, if Leona Helmsley wants her beloved dog, Trouble, to eat off silver plates for the rest of its life, fine by me — and probably with a lot of other people who find the company of animals more compassionate and ethical than that of their fellow humans. It even has a definition, “Biophilia.”

Kate Tour
Fortuna