Reading a China Daily article that says live animal shows are to be banned, I felt astonished, deeply shocked and terribly angry. I have always loved animals. They share a large part of our human nature. They may not attend school, but they have natural instincts and skills that many of us can only envy.

Look at the bees… They have a perfectly structured society: queen, servants, nannies, workers. I would never intentionally crush an ant under my feet; who knows it is not a messenger running to announce a discovery of food to a starving colony! Birds of all kinds delight our eyes; they sing in the trees, and after years of listening, I have begun to understand their language. I raised 16 birds on a large veranda that served as their cage. As I often traveled, they knew that a stranger would come to feed them when I was not at home, and they used to get very naughty. But when I was there and they became too noisy, I would just shout "Zitti!" (Quiet! in Italian), and they would immediately calm down. Every morning, if I am late with their daily ration of rice, a dozen sparrows knock at my kitchen window. Birds and even butterflies know when it's time to migrate for winter, and they always find their way back. An adult cat was given to a family living 10 kilometers away. The cat was taken by car and at night. Two days later, it came back by itself to pick up its favorite blanket.

Because of my long absences from home, I was obliged to give away my birds. For the same reason I don't raise a dog. Where I live, 60 percent of the households have at least one dog. People bring their pets outside morning and evening to avoid "accidents" in the house. But the poor dogs are kept on the leash and aren't allowed to play freely. The masters don't run, so the dogs don't either. They take no exercise and almost all of them are obese and breathe with difficulty. As I don't want to yield to a happy dog's discipline, I don't raise any. I often see abandoned puppies in the streets and stray dogs killed by cars. The authors of such crimes should be punished. But should the government forbid the whole nation to raise pets because some persons behave badly? In too many areas, China prefers to correct rather than prevent faults, to punish instead of educating.

Here is my point. The article says that the original purpose of zoos is to teach people about the wonders of nature. I agree totally. Some hard-line animal welfare activists would like to deprive society of the pleasure of admiring wild animals in zoos. Of course, bad things can happen in zoos. A giraffe was fed plastic bags, and died. In Beijing, a sadist poured petrol in a bear's mouth on a scorching day. A tiger ripped off a little boy's arm, when he put it through a protective fence. Animal activists protested after each accident and demanded all zoos to be closed. They have finally succeeded influencing the Chinese government to the point where live animal shows will be banned across the country from January. But these astonishing show animals who (I consciously use "who", not "that") perform exciting and amazing actions before a wide-eyed public are also wonders of nature, aren't they?