A wise girl knows her limits.
A great girl knows she has none.

a) Do we have an ethical responsibility toward animals? b) Do animals have emotions? Give examples if possible.

If this was thousands of years ago, we would have no more responsibility toward animals than a dog would toward a cat. I'm not saying we should be responsible because we are superior beings, but simply because we have done them harm, and we have to take responsibility and fix that. We have caused many species to go extinct, many to move out of their natural habitats, and many were killed for human benefits. I personally feel that we "owe" them in some way.

I believe animals have as much emotions as humans do; maybe not so many in variety, but they still have feelings. I'm not sure about all animals, but the ones I'm more familiar with definitely display their emotions. The most common example would be the dog, man's closest friend. Dogs can be jealous when you have too much attention for something else, they are lonely when they are left alone in the house, and they will "mourn" when their owner dies. I think animals and humans have more or less the same kind of emotion; it's just that humans know how to express themselves so other humans can understand. Like dogs understand other dogs, even if they speak to each other.