" Surely you're not saying that the life of a human and the life of an animal are of the same value?' he ventured.

'As humans we have much greater potential, of course,' His Holiness replied. 'But the way we all want very much to stay alive, the way we cling to our particular experience of consciousness-in this way human and animal are equal. "

― David Michie , The Dalai Lama's Cat (The Dalai Lama's Cat, #1)