FOREST Cat Welfare would like to state that we have absolutely no knowledge of the situation referred to and if Mrs Pratchett would care to contact us she would be very welcome to go through our call logs to verify this.

We feel that much damage has been caused by this letter at a time when charities are finding things difficult and if Mrs Pratchett would like to spend just one day in our shoes, I am sure she would come to realise this.

All animal charities run 365 days a year with the help of volunteers. None of us are paid workers and the rescued animals are cared for in our own homes.

This means that we cannot take breaks, holidays or have any respite from the situation.

We choose this life because we all believe in what we do and cannot turn a blind eye to any suffering animal.

Every call with a message is logged and replied to.

Between the three charities criticised we have at least nine different numbers that the public can contact us on and leave a message.

Yet, we find it strange that no-one seems to know anything about Mrs Pratchett’s friend or the difficult distressing predicament that he found himself in, which indicates no messages were left.

In 30 years of animal welfare experience we have never known things to be so difficult, without the need for criticism of dedicated people who do this work.

Once informed of a situation, we cannot ignore it otherwise we would be unable to sleep at night!

Ms JULIA HALE Founder Forest Cat Welfare