My mother early on taught us to respect all animals, and I mean all animals - not just cats and dogs but rats and snakes and spiders and fish and wildlife, so I really grew up believing they are just like us and just as deserving of consideration.

They're not group animals, they're completely solitary, so if the baby's mother is taken away, there's no system of aunts ... their whole system is destroyed.

I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

I am mean as cats' meat about handbags: mine don't ever look chic. I always prefer bags that aren't made of leather.

Way back in the 1970s, I was eating a steak, and I looked down, and for the first time it suddenly looked like flesh to me - like a dead creature. In a flash, I realized that every time I ate any kind of meat, something had been killed for me, and I stopped eating all animals, not just cows and pigs but chickens and fish.

I'm sure you agree that animals should not be abused - whether they're cats or dogs or chickens - and that stopping this abuse should be your number one priority.