I was always a freak about nature when it came to animals.

They're magnificent animals. It's just an exceptional piece of nature, these beasts.

I think it's been really successful. You can just tell a lot of kids are really responding.

It was really hard for me. I've always loved animals and I'd like to think there were people around to play with my dog if I ever had to leave it behind. It was just so sad.

With the utmost love and attention the man who walks must study and observe every smallest living thing, be it a child, a dog, a fly, a butterfly, a sparrow, a worm, a flower, a man, a house, a tree, a hedge, a snail, a mouse, a cloud, a hill, a leaf, or no more than a poor discarded scrap of paper on which, perhaps, a dear good child at school has written his first clumsy letters. The highest and the lowest, the most serious and the most hilarious things are to him equally beloved, beautiful, and valuable.

I saw that animals were important. I saw that plants were even more important. I was also to learn that compared to many of the other species, we weren't important at all except for the damage we do. We do not rule the natural world, despite our conspicuous position in it. On the contrary, it is our lifeline, and we do well to try to understand its rules.