ABSTRACT
It is necessary to know some of the religious ideas concerning animals behind the concept of were-animals. Humans, animals, birds and fishes all have immortal souls which, in successive lives can take on human, bird or animal forms. For this reason animals are not inferior to human beings, since a person may have a vestige of an animal soul because in a previous life it had belonged to an animal, and vice versa, for the soul never dies but only changes shape. However, this is not a systematized theory such as the concept of Buddhist karma, although both may have had common roots.
