I used to frequent my parents' neighbourhood, as I was very enamoured of the atmosphere there. Every day, from morning till night, there was a wide variety of activities involving residents of different age groups.

Retired people wakened the neighbourhood in the morning with their regular Taiji boxing, dances or other exercises, infusing the neighbourhood with an atmosphere of diligence and prosperity. During the period from 9 am to 10:30 am, all the infants were brought out from different houses to bathe in the late autumn sunlight, and young mothers gathered to chat merrily with each other. This was also a good time for people to walk their dogs in the surrounding area. Then after lunch, the sky would be filled with kites.

Kite lovers ran to send their kites flying. When their kites climbed into the sky, they tied the strings to trees and then began to play football or train their dogs. The time between 3 pm and 4:30 pm was another period for infant gathering or dog walking. This was also the time to see a swarm of kids rush out from the nearby kindergarten and begin playing everywhere in the neighbourhood. Laughter, screams and cries soon filled the air, and anyone watching would surely be affected by their dynamism and vitality.

The night was not lonely either, as quite a few regulars danced cheerfully to merry tunes in the moonlight. I liked the neighbourhood because it showed me what real life was, a life of good taste and humanity. The diverse cars lined along all the paths revealed the high quality of life of their owners. All the time you could see wild cats eat, curl up or stroll with satisfaction, not afraid of any passers-by. Sometimes they even came close to you for a caress or for food, their eyes full of trust. I greatly enjoyed this harmonious relationship between man and animals.

That sight never returns, however. I was sadly told the other day that a large majority of the cats had been poisoned to death. Some residents had mixed a certain powerful poison with fish, sausage and cat biscuits and deliberately put them along the paths or simply hung them on the bushes. "They said the New Year is drawing near, and they hoped to have a cleaner environment. They poisoned eight cats at one time, big and small," a regular cat feeder surnamed Hong told me. He looked very upset. "The poison was so powerful that the cats died immediately after they had eaten the poisonous fish tail. I saw they had all died with their eyes open."

"What distressed me most was that some small kids might have used poisoned snack to feed the cats under the instructions of their parents," said another cat lover surnamed Ma in tears. Ma had already sheltered 12 stray cats. Later, I learnt from a newspaper that every night, some motorcyclists would drive unscrupulously into the neighbourhood to trap the cats for hot-pot. There used to be about 70 cats in the neighbourhood, but in just seven days, the cat population was reduced to only about 10.

How could those residents be so cruel to the cute animals? The cats depended on us, kept company with us, and brought so much fun to us. It is a fact that such animals may bring some problems affecting noise and sanitation, but that surely can't be a reason to get rid of them without mercy. Can we do away with whoever creates inconvenience for us? Can we remove whoever we dislike? We are all inhabitants of the same ecological village of the earth, and we should live harmoniously with each other. No life should be sacrificed to meet someone's insatiable desires. I was most outraged by this despicable conduct, taking advantage of the cats' trust in human beings to carry out these murders. There must have been no light in these people's darkened souls.

How could those parents do that? What did they want to teach their children? Ignorance of life? Selfishness? Cruelty? Probably even they themselves did not understand what they were doing when they instructed their children to poison the cats, creating a devil in the children's hearts, taught to deal in violence - a big trouble in the future! "As a man sows, so he shall reap", the saying goes.

The property management department in the neighbourhood should also be blamed for its dereliction of duty. How could it allow outside motorcyclists to run wild in the neighbourhood at night? That might well explain the rampant thefts and robberies in the area. Besides, how could they allow poisonous food or other things to be scattered around the neighbourhood? They might poison not only cats but dogs or even some naughty kids.

How to rebuild the lost paradise for the cats as well as for us human beings? There has been a sharp drop in temperature these days, but I no longer expect snow as usual. One man's romance is another man's disaster.