Letter: Pining dogs

Sir: Brendan Halpin (letter, 3 January) appears to think quarantine is justified on the grounds that dogs cannot appreciate time, "especially a future duration of six months". Nor, of course, can babies or imbeciles, but that does not give us licence to place them in solitary confinement.

He confuses a concept with a felt experience. An animal may have no concept of next week or next June, but it has the experience of present time - in the case of quarantine, a seemingly interminable present deprived of its customary human or animal companions and normal activities.

Dr RAY RACY

Bristol