It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being. – Henry David Thoreau

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. – Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe, letter to President Franklin Pierce

There is a drop of blood in the snow before me…. The coyote… is in estrus…. spurred to let out a bit of herself, sending a message, telling everyone she was now ready, that the clock of her winter was ticking toward spring. – Craig Childs, The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild