John Arnone defends killing intelligent, life-loving animals by saying that frogs, lions and wolves kill for food. But there’s a big difference between them and us. They need to kill to survive, and we don’t.

Humans actually thrive on a plant-based diet, and this is because we are not natural carnivores.

John fears that, if we stopped raising animals for food, there would be insufficient food for the world’s burgeoning population. On the contrary, we’d have more food, because currently almost one billion tonnes – including maize, soybeans, oats, millet, wheat and kale – is grown to feed farmed animals. Given that it takes about 10 kilograms of good-quality plant protein to produce one kilogram of meat, this is a scandalous waste of food that could be fed directly to humans.

Jenny Moxham

Victoria, Australia