If we believe that animals were created by someone for men, it would follow that men were also created for animals since some animals do eat human flesh. Animals are said to be conscious only of the present. They live with no concern for the past or future. Likewise, little children seem to have no notion of the future. They also live in the present until their faculties of memory and imagination are developed.
Men possesses the faculty of reasoning.
The gap between man and animal widens only to the extent that man develops his reasoning faculty and acts accordingly. Buddhists accept that animals not only possesses instinctive power but also, to a lesser degree, thinking power. In some respects, animals are superior to men. Much of the animal is still in us. Buddhists are encouraged to love all living beings and not to restrict their love only to human beings.