Animal Suicides , page 1

Animal Suicides Shed Light on Human Suicides

Whether it's a grieving dog, a depressed horse or even a whale mysteriously beaching itself, there is a long history of animals behaving suicidally, behavior that can help explain human suicide, says newly published research.

I've always had the notion that animals were more like humans than we wanted to admit. Now it seems there might be some research that indicates animals commit suicide, usually as the result of depression, anxiety, fear, or even an attempt to protect others.

Pea aphids, for instance, when threatened by a lady bug can explode themselves, scattering and protecting their brethren and sometimes even killing the lady bug. They are literally tiny suicide bombers, Joiner told Discovery News.

If we recognize that animals can feel such deep emotions, will that change the way we treat them?

Although I think that if people thought of animals as more human than we do today then we still wouldn't treat them any different (as a whole)because I mean we would still brutally hurt them for our own pleasure/gain much like we do today, We would still slaughter them for food and clothing, we would still attack them and call them stupid even if we found them out to be incredibly smart.

reply to post by Rising Against

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Agreed. I don't think the majority of people will treat animals differently. But how about individuals?

In my mind, that is no difference than the couple who lived in my house before we bought it. She died after a long illness. He died 6 weeks later of heart failure. They had been married for 50 years. I think he didn't want to live without her.

reply to post by Lolliek

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Agreed. Reminds me of the story "Where the Red Fern Grows."

When my male cat died, his companion mourned him....and died a few weeks later. She was in perfect health until his death. I've often thought she mourned him, and that's why she died.

reply to post by smyleegrl

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Well it may make some people stop and think but surely the majority of animal cruelty is done by those people who simply do not care and would do it to humans is the law was looser.

Because that’s what I think it comes down to, they do it to animals because if they were to get caught the law is much looser than if they did it to a human and the punishment will be easier on them.

But I don’t see why anyone would want to hurt a defenseless animal in the first place.

I dont believe it was suicide, but it shows that animals absolutely do have emotions more than we will ever understand.

reply to post by greeneyedleo

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What a horrible story.

I've always been surprised at the folks who don't give animals credit for having feelings. I understand humans tend to anthroporphize everything, but that doesn't mean animals don't feel pain, empathy, grief, anger, fear, or joy.

Anyone who's ever seen a dog wilt when his master leaves has seen an animal with feelings.

Just my opinion, of course.

I'd like to point to this thread, called The Link to everything.

It is long ! But I believe him to make some very interesting points.
Also regarding this topic.

reply to post by ReelView

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O no animals with feelings dont eat them, even though meat is good for the body. You eat plants and they are living organisms, so what is the difference? If plants had feelings would you stop eating them?

Originally posted by Pajjikor
reply to post by ReelView

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O no animals with feelings dont eat them, even though meat is good for the body. You eat plants and they are living organisms, so what is the difference? If plants had feelings would you stop eating them?

Show me a plant capable of emotions, or a plant that secrets fear hormones before its death (androstadienone, adrenaline (epinephrine)) etc.)...

I am only eating animals that lived a good life, for now its the least I can do. This is purley from medical perspective, but it proves a few points. Animals that are treated bad, turn out bad. It does not realy matter if you feed them crap or just degrade them emotionaly - the impact on their health (and your if you eat them) is self evident.
Us humans have real right to call ourselves something higher than animals. Shure we can do some fancy stuff, but your still made up of flesh and bones, how is that being better than the rest?
We still obey the laws of nature, its just that we are getting so mad (this is going on for quite some time..) that we forget, that man is not the most important animal in the universe.
Though my main concern is that so many nasty things are going on in the name of profits... to increase our own special and neurotic well-being. If you cant feel the pain that is crushing you, all the wrong things that you know shouldn't be hapening, it does not mean that your free of the shackles. By ignoring the serious issues you simply become a prisoner, a man who cannot see the world in its whole.
My point is this: We should try to treat every living thing with respect. Maybe later, newer technologies will prove that there is no intelligence or point in anyone, apart from humans, living or that our main purpose in life is to destroy other life forms or etc.. But now, its still clear that life is a mystery and a miracle to us, yet we do as we please with it with no second thought (not only to other species, arguably we hate each-other the most (do you realy hate any other species?)).

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