The foremost animal surrounding the Buddha's statue is the deer. The deer is number one. When the Buddha gave his first teaching, it was in a deer park. Anytime you see a deer statue around a Buddha it's to ignite that thought, "Oh yes, his first teaching was in a deer park". The Buddha lived in nature. He had a great love for animals, and the animals loved him. We only have to imagine that they would have easily been around him all the time because of the attraction.
Rosemary and I always treated animals well on our farm back in Australia. We would feed birds that would come to our hands - even take food out of our hands. The kangaroos would lay in our yard, knowing that it was totally safe to do so. When you're loving and kind, animals always come closer. So when you see animal statues near the Buddha statues, it's really to symbolize that harmony, that love the Buddha had. Especially when you see deer you can remind yourself that that's where the Buddha started teaching.