hi debi. my name is linda, and i've subscribed to the fml for about 7 or 8 months now. i must confess that, when your posting appeared, i started reading it and, when i realized that it concerned the abuse of animals, i stopped reading. i simply cannot tolerate abuse of animals or children or any other innocent, defenseless creatures. i figured that there was nothing that i could do to remedy your situation, and i couldn't handle reading about it. but i've been reading all the caring, concerned responses to your message, and i realize that i've got to pull my head out of the sand. as much as it makes me cry to hear of anyone abusing God's innocent little creatures, if i don't respond however i can, and try to make things better, then i'm no better than the abusers. it's way too easy to look the other way and pretend that this stuff doesn't happen. it happens. and it tears me apart. so that's why i'm responding to your plea for help. what your boyfriend is doing is horrible. and, know what? it's not so difficult to be strong and stand up for these sweet animals. or to stand up for yourself. i'm a shy person who will go out of my way to keep things level, even, not rock the boat, not stir up the waters. but i've amazed myself by intervening when i see cruelty. i remember sitting at my desk at work one day. i had a window looking out over a street heavily populated by pedestrians. i saw a young-ish man walking with a tiny little kid, maybe two years old, and this little kid was toddling along on his cute little rubbery legs, you know, like little kids do, and this guy was bent over, yelling into this little kid's face and hitting him on his head, smacking him hard right on his head, and dragging the little kid by his arm. it was abuse, no doubt about it. i completely surprised myself when i threw open that window and yelled at that man that he'd better lay off that child or i would call the police. he stopped. but what killed me was that i knew that as soon as they turned the corner and were out of my sight, this asshole (sorry...don't know what else to call him) would be all over this kid again. anyway, what i'm trying to say is that, no matter how shy or complacent you are, you can find it in yourself to fight like hell any abuse of god's little weaker creatures. i have no choice. i must fight for these little beings. and i think you can fight, too. debi, i don't know your situation. but i know that you cared enough to ask us for help. that shows me that you are a compassionate and caring person. so my advice is to do whatever you have to do to save logan. and save yourself. you sound like a really sweet, intelligent lady. do what you know you need to do. and please let us know what happens, ok? we're supporting you 100%. linda [Posted in FML issue 1404]