Air Date: Week of June 29, 2001

This week, Living on Earth dips into our mailbag to hear what listeners have to say about our stories.

Transcript

CURWOOD: Time now for comments from you, our listeners. Our recent story about the endangered Kihansi Spray Toad in Tanzania caught the ear of John Brewer, who listens to us on WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "I laughed hysterically when the interviewee ceded that the conservation project could be perceived as an unwanted intervention by a rich, first-world nation in the business of small, impoverished third-world country," writes Mr. Brewer, "The six million dollars used to help a toad that nobody knew existed, much less cared about until a couple of years ago, could have built a hospital, fed hundreds of thousands of hungry children, or provided shelter for the homeless families in impoverished Tanzania."

Our story about the Canadian Rat Patrol made many listeners think we weren't showing enough respect for this species. "I cannot fault the farmers for wanting to have rat-free farms," wrote Erika Katz, who hears us on KQED in San Francisco. "However, I was disgusted to hear more than one of the men remark that he was disappointed there were no rats to kill on a particular day. They went on about how fun it is to kill rats. I find this barbaric. Anyone who has ever had a pet rat will tell you that they are intelligent, gentle creatures, and like all creatures, deserve to be treated humanely, even if we need to restrict their populations."

Your comments on our program are always welcome. Call our listener line anytime at 800-218-9988. Our email address is letters@loe.org. And visit our web page at www.loe.org. That's www.loe.org.

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CURWOOD: You're listening to NPR's Living on Earth

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