I want to combine html:select with normal <option> tag and not html

ption or html

ptions or html

ptionsCollection etc.
e.g.
<html:select name="animalForm" property="animal" size="1" styleClass="dataInputField" styleId="5" onchange="animalChanged(this.value)">
<option value="lion">lion</option>
<option value="tiger">tiger</option>
<option value="ant">
ant</option>
</select>
when selected value in the drop down is changed, the correct value is retreived at the server side however when the page reloads the value selected is the first value in the drop down and not the value that was selected by the user.
Is it that html:select
must be combined with html

ption or html

ptions or html

ptionsCollection and cannot be combined with <option> tag for this feature??
Thanks in advance