A file detailing the deaths of 28 animals at a zoo in Liuzhou in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region asked humans to search their consciences.

The animals were killed by the abuse and cruelty of their human visitors to the zoo over the past 11 years.

Ignoring the notices that the zoo administration put up about treating the animals kindly, some people fed the creatures in the cages whatever "food" they could find. Plastic bags, peppers and even nails were found in the stomachs of the dead animals.

Some people threw stones to lions taking a nap at noon to keep them moving.

The zoo in Liuzhou is not the only one whose animal inhabitants have been victims of human cruelty.

In zoos or even in the wild, many people behave as if humans are the measure of all things.

They believe that there is a huge gap separating them from animals. But it is only really one step in the wheel of life, because we are all children of the Earth.

Such people make mercilessness the privilege of so-called civilized humans.

Humans do not live in a separate world. We live in the midst of others who also want to live their lives.

The perfumed flowers, the deer, the wolf, the bear... and human beings - all belong to the same family.

Letters from two Liuzhou children begging others to protect animals should make adults blush with shame.

We humans still need to learn a lot to be kind, respectful and empathetic towards the animals and to look after the environment and its diverse habitats.

The animals' human fellows should be educated to develop a sense of responsibility and make the world a better, more humane place.

The Indian philosopher Mahatma Gandhi is said to have declared that one can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals.

On Monday, Beijing people told the nation that human empathy for our animal friends is still deep in our hearts.

Locals in the city's Xicheng District braved the chilly wind for 30 hours to save a crow stuck in a tree.

Everything that humans do to animals will return to humans.

(China Daily November 20, 2002)