If the genre is hate mail, this e-mail prompted by my animal-testing column qualifies as almost a work of art:

“You are an embaresment to the human race! And I don’t appreciate the sarcasm when talking about rhesus monkeys with their red faces, rumps and dietary habits. What would people say about you if you were kept in a cage all day long? I don’t appreciate your ugly facing peering out from my newspaper, that’s for damn sure. You are an animal hater first off, not to mention xenophobic, before anything else, which is exactly why you think groups like PETA and NAVA should cease to exist. Food for thought: we really DON’T know what happens to us when we die, but you better start hoping and praying your not reincarnated into an animal that suffers in agony in one of the many labs that you support. Actually I can’t think of anyone more deserving of that punishment then you, God willing.”