When Lucy the Dog's good friend the birdie was eaten by a neighborhood pregnant cat named Fur Ball, Lucy killed Fur Ball with one snap of her jaws. The cat's owner wanted to invoke the "vicious dog law" to have Lucy destroyed, but Lucy's owner held that the law was intended to punish dogs whose bad deeds had hurt humans, and was not applicable to conflicts between animals. Fur Ball's owner, however, claimed personal suffering as the result of Fur Ball's cruel death, and thus argued that Lucy had caused injury to a person, making the vicious dog law applicable to this case. Lucy's owner was frantic, not knowing what could be done to save her. Just then, there was an incident of a police dog killing one of the six ravens guarding the Tower of London. The dog was pardoned however, and the precedent spared Lucy the death penalty. This amusing incident happened in England, but was reported by media worldwide, attracting the attention of many animal lovers.

This story has several notable aspects. First, we discover that the principal motive behind Lucy's deed was to redress an injustice and seek revenge for the death of her good friend the bird. Second, the owners of both the "perpetrator" and the "victim" had deep feelings for their pets. Between all this love and hate, dog lovers and cat lovers could see the depth of emotions between people and animals.

Close to man's heart and nature, the dog is more like man than any other animal. Yet, the relationship between the two has changed greatly since ancient times. Changes in man's lifestyle, combined with his negligence, greed and selfishness, have too often left the dog abandoned on city streets, hungry and cold, faced with the constant threat of capture and extermination. Mankind also seems caught between his love for dogs and the necessity of clearing the streets of strays. The abundance of strays is a serious problem, and animal lovers are unsatisfied with the methods used to catch and exterminate stray dogs. We have taken the dog--" man's best friend" --as the subject of this month's cover story, carefully examining the relationship between people and dogs, the status of the dog over several thousand years of Chinese history, the ways dogs are treated East and West, and just what can be done to solve the problem of strays.

The relationships between the creatures of the natural world are marvelous beyond compare. Good human care is the best way of showing concern for dogs, while wild animals seem to be safer the farther away from man they are. People should do their best not to disturb them. Nature photographer Liu Yen-ming shows just such a respect for wild life. Liu quietly aimed his lens at terns, beautiful birds which summer on the Penghu islands. Wild animals are very picky about their living environment. That the birds come and raise their next generation here is a kind of stamp of approval for the environment. We should do our utmost to protect wild habitats. "When some people arrive on the is lands," said Liu, "they pick up birds' eggs and then just throw them away, seemingly oblivious to taking chicks' lives." And what's most galling is that even some researchers, by their very presence, prevent t he birds from incubating their eggs and feeding their chicks. By putting the cart before the horse in this way, these ecological researchers actually hurt the ecology themselves.

"The kinds of life determines the kind of planet." writes Hsu Ching-hua, an overseas Chinese geologist and oceanographer who has put great effort in disseminating scientific understanding. He explains the interdependence of life forms on earth, and the resulting miraculous proliferation of life. Today, we already realize that each form of life has its place and reason for being in the world of nature. The extinction or over-proliferation of any species represents a kind of warning--that the ecological balance is being disturbed, to the point where all life could die. Stopping human activities that are causing serious damage and starting to protect and repair the environment is now humanity's most dauting task. We will thus put more emphasis on reports regarding wildlife and the ecology.

Our readers' concern for the environment was also amply reflected in the readers' survey included in the July and August issues. Many readers liked very much July's "Tracking Turtles in the South China Sea" and "Butterfly Dream" and August's "Unbearable--On the Trade in Ursine Gall," and they expressed the hope that more articles of this type would be printed. The articles in these two issues that were particularly enjoyed by readers also included, "Who Put the Tea in Britain," "Diving in the Coral Reefs off Green Island," "Siamese Twins Chung-jen and Chung-yi at Nineteen," and so on. Among these, the tea reports were most loved by 60 percent of readers. We found this touching, and as a result of readers' requests, we will continue writing articles about how Eastern goods have travelled west. This month's "Ming Furniture's Home Across the Sea" is another article about traditional Chinese cultural artifacts making a name for themselves in the West.

As for readers' suggestions, fairly common ones included speeding up publication, switching to less-glossy paper, increasing type size, and adding more articles dealing with the environment, science, art and culture, music, and Chinese traditions. Opinions that were out-of-the ordinary or even conflicting were few, and largely involved adding or cutting articles about politics, the economy and current events. We value all of our readers' opinions. Where we can make quick steps to improve, we will. Where there is disagreement, we hope to solicit an even broader range of opinions. What we found most moving, of course, were readers' expressions of appreciation. In particular, one reader encouraged us by saying, "I pray that indeed 'wherever there are Chinese, there is Sinorama!'" We are making the same prayer. May your wish come true!