Ms. Sullivan, you've obviously misunderstood. My previous post in regards to the usage of the term "hobby" in relation to animals was not an attack, it was a question. It is a term that I find fault with regardless of who it is used by. Linda did seem to understand my concerns, though I'm not sure she understood my questioning either. I asked as not to assume. However, based on KarenL's offer to answer any questions put to her, I did assume there would be no problem with my doing so. Considering I recieved no reply from her, but an attack from you instead, it seems obvious my assumption was wrong. "Chelle and the Gang", I'm afraid I am not familiar with you or your rescue. As for the matter at hand.... Dictionaries aside, I consider a hobby to be something done for pleasure in a person's spare time. Something which can be put away or ignored when other things take priority. The sort of things that people do to bide time when they have nothing better to do. How the responsibilty of caring for any living thing could be equated in the same manner or held in the same regard as something that's used to amuse someone when they are bored escapes me. To me, the animals I share my life with are my children. I would no sooner refer to them as a hobby than I would my human child. I did not submit my previous post looking for a fight. I submitted it seeking KarenL's view, as well as the views of anyone else who cared to discuss it, on the subject. I was hoping for an open discussion. It's clear by the few responses I did recieved, the majority of which were less than cordial, that this is not about to happen. Now I too see why people are being "driven away" from the FML. Thank you for opening my eyes. -- Karen McCabe [Posted in FML issue 4550]