Yes PALE, church leader should have a responsibility to stand up for all creatures, but, because they regard anything that is NOT human as being a lesser species, they will always put the needs of humans before that of other creatures. Their sole aim is to buy their way to heaven by whatever means and to heck with animals. They are not custodians of the Earth. In fact they could be blamed for much of what is wrong in the world today. David is different. He follows much more closely the life of Jesus Christ and for that I admire him, even though we hold opposing views of God as a whole.
However, I'm sure most sincere church leaders and indeed, church goers would be appalled at how some animals are being treated in Australia. What the rest of the world does to animals doesn't bear thinking about, but when it comes to various church run welfare groups, it's all about humans. That's where any 'spare' money goes. Unfortunately, funding, donations etc often goes towards organisational payments including wages and operational costs (running cars, paying utility bills etc), therefore I seriously doubt you'll get anywhere with the churches. Many religious organisations have become increasingly greedy and much of that greed has gone to spreading their brand of faith to often ignorant people. In short, they don't adhere to the very source from which their dubious "faith" was taken.....the Bible.
I could write a book on the subject. I've studied it in the past like an insect under a microscope and found organised religion to come up wanting rather badly, that's why I say forget them and concentrate on groups more closely tied to animal welfare. Unfortunately there's not much I can do from here at present. Thanks to the Internet, awareness of various groups and organisations espousing animal welfare have been brought to the fore, yet it's also unfortunate that most of these groups are situated in capital cities and meetings are well out of my territory, otherwise I might be tempted to become more involved.

Opps. Sorry for the double post. I often wondered how people managed to do that and now I know.

I don't know what this has to do with your cause PALE, but let me tell you, while I'm posting, about a story from the Australian Nursing Journal concerning the plight of one farmer during the drought.

This particular farmer was so distressed at having to watch his cattle wither away that one evening, he loaded them onto his truck and the next morning took them quite some distance to a stock market hoping he could sell them to anyone who might offer them a better outcome. As he backed the truck up to the loading ramp, a chap came running up to him to tell him it was no use unloading. Nobody would take them away, let alone pay money for them.
In a final act of desperation, the farmer took the unfortunate animals back to his property, drove out to the most remote area of the farm and shot the lot. He then committed suicide.

I suppose the moral of this story is that both the animals and the farmers need lots of TLC. It strikes me as rather sad that the condition of both the animals and the farmers mental health cannot be nourished together. It's been a bad time for all involved. I can only hope the drought is over, but that's not a given just yet.

PALE, this is a not a very good medium over which to communicate. Do you have a web site perhaps? So many things words can be used in emails and posts just like these and so much can be easily taken out of context. I had a major argument with one of my sons simply because he misunderstood the meaning of one of my emails.
Thanks to my mistake of double posting, this is most likely the last time I will be able to respond to this article in the next 24 hours. Please take that into account.

Amie.
I hear your a very busy lady. I hope you dont mind but I just sent a copy of your posts to our four lawyers who are also members of pale.

Put in its most simple form- We would very much like contact with you.

I was asked to relay a message to you from some choked up big men

As follows.
Dear Amie we wish you would- "Write a book." You have a gift with words and at anytime if you are interested to assist we will do whatever it takes to provide as much funding as possible and support to you.
We would welcome you on board as a valued member of our team.
Please talk to Wendy and we hope to meet with you one day.
End Of message.,

So Amie your truth and post about the farmer has really hit the boys- [us too]
Our telephone number is 0755392369
Our web addresses-
http://www.livexports.com/
You may see HKM on this thread.
http://www.afic.com.au/
my personal email address is
wendy.lewthwaite@bigpond.com

Amie- Do you know if the farmer had a family and if there is some way we can help them?
Yes I have double posted a few times but I am not sure how it happens.
I also understand you can not post for 24 hours and you will be a busy lady for the next four weeks.
Still we would love to hear from you.
Your correct about not wishing to put all up on the net.
I dont think they changed the laws regarding animal welfare because of people posting on the net to be honest.
The other groups dont tend to comment too much although they do post on different subjects which is great.
We tend to be the black sheep I guess telling it how it is but what the heck- Somebody has to.
You may like to do us the honour of signing our petition-

http://consciousevolution.com/onshu/view_signatures.php

http://consciousevolution.com/onshu/Petition.php
We are all looking forward toreading your comments if you have the time.