William Phelps
“When these days come, every thing will be in its place. The beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, instead of feeding upon flesh, will feed upon the herb and the grain, as was given them in the beginning. Then man will not shed the blood of his fellow man, nor beast the blood of its fellow beast, nor fowl the blood of its fellow fowl; but the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out upon all flesh, the curse be taken from off the earth, when it will become an inheritance for the poor and the meek, when their (sic) will be peace thereon and good will towards man.” (The Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 13, June 1833, p. 102)
Orson F. Whitney
“Prophets have predicted and poets have sung, all down the ages, of a time to come when the earth would rest; when man would cease his inhumanity to man, when they would beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; when nation would not rise against nation, neither would they learn war any more; when the animal kingdom would subsist solely upon the vegetable kingdom, when the lion would eat straw like the ox, the lion and the lamb lie down together and a little child lead them; when peace would spread her white wings over this planet and grim-visaged war, smoothing his wrinkled front, should sit at her feet and learn wisdom for a thousand years.” (Collected discourses 1868-1898, ed. by B.H. Stuy, vol. 4, Orson F. Whitney, Aug. 12 1894)
Joseph Smith
“In pitching my tent we found three massasaguas, or prairie rattlesnakes, which the brethren were about to kill, but I said, ’Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose his venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition, and continue to make war upon it? Men must become harmless, before the brute creation; and when men lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the suckling child can play with the serpent in safety.’ The brethren took the serpents carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek. I exhorted the brethren not to kill a serpent, bird or an animal of any kind during my journey unless it became necessary in order to preserve ourselves from hunger.” (History of the Church, vol. 2, pp. 71-2)
Hugh Nibley
“In Paradise, as everybody knows, all creatures lived together in peace. So too, in Zion when it is restored to the earth, the lion shall lie down with the lamb. God’s other creatures are an important part of the picture of heaven. A marvelous statement by Joseph Smith on this subject gives us a flash of insight into an amazing future: ’John learned that God glorified Himself by saving all that His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes or men; and He will glorify Himself with them.’ Brigham Young said: ’The millennium consists in this, every heart in the Church and kingdom of God being united in one… . All things else will be as they are now, we shall eat, drink, and wear clothing. Let the people be holy … and filled with the Spirit of God, and every animal and creeping thing will be filled with peace; the soil of the earth will bring forth in its strength, and the fruits thereof will be meat for man.’” (Approaching Zion, p. 13)