The Spiritual World of Animals

- Insights from Reading "The Souls of Animals"

动物的心灵世界--《我的灵魂遇见动物》读后感

(Originally in Chinese)

Since ancient times, there have been many stories of animals saving human lives. Most scientists or research experts, after observing animals for some time, appeal for their protection. Why? It is because they have found that animals also have deep feelings and sensitive hearts just like humans.

从古至今，动物救人的传说时有听闻，许多与动物接触过的科学家或研究者在观察动物一段时间后，大多会提出保护动物的呼吁，为什么呢？因为他们发现动物与人类一样，具有丰富的感情与敏锐的心灵。

Recently, due to the pandemic outbreaks of bird flu, mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease, we often see in the news media billions of innocent animals being slaughtered. We can hardly bear to see such news and it makes us quiver. Recently, we found a book on the Internet that greatly attracted our attention. It is entitled "The Souls of Animals", and portrays their spiritual world. After reading the book, we felt deeply apologetic for the animals and had a strong urge in our hearts to speak up on their behalf!

最近新闻媒体不断出现各地因发现禽流感、狂牛症或口蹄疫病例，而扑杀成千上万无辜动物的报导，令人惨不忍睹，心中寒颤连连。最近在网络上发现一本介绍动物心灵世界的书--《我的灵魂遇见动物》（The Souls of Animals），它深深地吸引了我们，看完以后，心中对动物们感到深深的歉意，突然有一股为它们代言的冲动！

The author of the book is Gary Kowalski. He is a parish minister, a graduate of the Theological Institute at Harvard University and has had many years of experience in writing about animal behavior. Through his interactions with church congregations and exchanging correspondence with his readers, he has gathered many true and touching stories. Here are some of the heartwarming anecdotes from his book:

《我的灵魂遇见动物》作者盖瑞.科瓦斯奇（Gary Kowalski）是一位教区牧师，他透过与信众互动以及与读者通信中，收集了许多真实感人的故事。科瓦斯奇毕业于哈佛大学神学院，在动物行为研究的领域具有多年写作经验，书中温馨故事摘录如下：

A mother pig's fantastic idea: After giving birth to her litter of piglets, the mother who was raised on a free range farm carefully bit off daffodil blooms, which she arranged in a bright yellow wreath around the sleeping litter.

猪妈妈庆生的巧妙心思：一头自由放养的母猪生下一窝小猪后，小心翼翼地咬下盛开的黄水仙，围绕着她的猪窝，整齐排列成一个明亮的黄色花环。

Cows with deep emotions: On a small farm in Central America, one day a calf was slaughtered for a barbecue at an impromptu fiesta. For weeks afterward, the remainder of the herd gathered each afternoon and stood lowing in a circle around the spot where the young one had been killed.

重情重义的牛群：在美国中部的一座小农场内，有一场即兴的庆典，农夫们临时起意要烘烤牛肉，于是将一头小牛当场给宰杀了。没想到小牛被杀后的几个星期，每天都有成群的牛围聚在小牛被杀之处，痛苦地哞哞哀叫。

Jackdaws, the faithful lovers: Similar in appearance to crows, jackdaws are birds that also have a long life. They are one of the species of birds that mate for life. Even after many years, the male still feeds his wife with the same meticulous care, and finds for her the same low tones of love, tremulous with inward emotion, that were whispered in his first spring of betrothal and of life.

深情如一的寒鸦：寒鸦与乌鸦外表相似，都是一种长寿的鸟类，牠们一生都不会换伴侣，即使过了多年，公鸟仍会细心地喂食母鸟，并发出充满爱意的轻柔语调，终其一生彷如初恋般的浓情蜜意。

There are many more interesting stories in the book. For instance, in deep grief, a gorilla was able to clearly express in sign language her sadness and anguish about the death of her pet kitten; a wild male goose refused to fly south to the Magellan Islands for winter in order not to abandon his injured mate; a chimpanzee was totally mesmerized by the splendor of a sunset; oblivious to the danger, a group of elephants tried every way to help and resuscitate their family member that was shot in the chest by hunters; after a young dolphin had been caught and wounded off the coast of Caira, a school of dolphins came into the harbor and stopped there until the fisherman let his captive go free; a talented Asian elephant drew incredibly wonderful pictures. All these examples of animals' abilities, intense feelings, instincts and responses deeply impress and touch the readers.

此外，书中还提到许多有趣的故事，例如：一只悲痛的大猩猩，竟能用手语清楚地表达对好友猫咪死亡的难过与悲伤；一只雄鹅因不愿抛弃受伤的伴侣，坚持不凯南飞往麦哲伦群岛过冬；一只黑猩猩为落日壮丽的美景而深深着迷；一群大象不顾危险，用尽办法挽救被猎人射穿胸膛的亲人，企图使牠起死回生；一只小海豚在卡利亚的海滩被捕受伤，一群海豚聚集到海湾，直到渔夫将小海豚放生为止；亚洲象画出不可思议的画作等等。动物们至情至性的本能与反应，在在令读者惊叹感动。

Recently, there was a documentary on television about cockroaches. The film revealed that cockroaches are actually cleaner in nature than humans because they are constantly washing themselves. The research concluded that cockroaches are beneficial and not injurious insects because they are shouldering the task of waste eliminators. However, when they dig into kitchen wastes and other untidy surroundings of humans, they do unintentionally create some conflict with them. From this we can see that cockroaches are actually our good friends. This fact further proves that all living forms deserve our protection and respect. Animals also possess many of the same deep feelings as humans. Having come to this realization, we will be able to understand more clearly the fear and pain animals experience when being slaughtered, and we believe that most people, if they have this knowledge,.

最近电视媒体也播报了一则以研究蟑螂为主题的纪录，片中揭露了蟑螂其实比人类还爱干净，牠们随时都在洗自己的身体，研究结论认为蟑螂是益虫而不是害虫，牠们只是因为身负清除者的责任，必须帮忙清理秽物，而与人类的厨余、杂乱的环境为邻，才会与人类起冲突。可见连蟑螂都是人类的好朋友，这个事实更加证明了所有形式的生命都值得我们爱护与尊重。动物和人类一样具有感知能力，如果我们能了解这点，便可体会动物被活生生宰杀时的恐惧与痛苦.
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