Animal Suicides When we talk about suicide, most of us believe it is a human endeavor, but that is not entirely true. We think it takes a decision of an intelligent person to do it. If we look around at those who have committed suicide, many of them had a problem with their brains, such as severe depression or some other mental illness. Those people were not thinking clearly and the function of their brain may have been reduced below the average intelligence level. Yes, there were others who may have committed suicide because they were so scared of something else, they felt would even be worse, such as being beaten or tortured to death for some reason, but for now I am only talking about the others with some sort of depression and brain disorder. Did you know that there are cases where animals have committed suicide? If an animal can do this, does it mean they might have a higher brain function than we give them credit for? I say this because it takes a conscious decision to kill one’s self. Could it be the animal might have a mental illness or be depressed and this gives the animal a higher than average ability to make this decision. On the other hand does this mean the animals didn’t realize what the results of their actions would be because they don’t know what death is? Sometimes there is a place where animals go and when they are there, they decide to kill themselves. One such place is in Scotland is the Overtoun Bridge, but it is very famous as the bridge where dog’s commit suicide. I am sure dogs don’t go around wondering when will they get to this bridge so they can commit suicide. When dogs get to the bridge they try and jump off. It has been estimated several hundred have killed themselves. Some think dogs have a supernatural power to see ghosts. Do they see something at the bottom of the bridge such as a deceased master or some other spirit, perhaps of another dog and they are jumping not to die, but to join it, not realizing the consequences? There was a beautiful dolphin, who’s trainer claimed just felt so depressed it held its breath until it died. The dolphin was famous at the time and you might even recognize the character it played, which was Flipper. It turns out to take a breath a dolphin has to think about it, it is not automatic as it is in humans. How can we be sure an animal is committing a conscious act of suicide? Some zoo keepers claim they have seen this. They mention the fact they have seen bears get so depressed they decided not to eat until they eventually died. There is no doubt a bear which is used to the wide open spaces then locked up in a cage or a small area can be affected by its surroundings. Recently it was found by scientists that fish kept in a tiny globe container can actually go crazy. The thing is who can tell what an animal is thinking when it does something so dangerous to itself, we classify the act as suicide? There was a dog which lived in Newfoundland which made multiple attempts to drown itself. It would jump into the water and not swim and sink. Each time it was rescued until one time it succeeded and died. This certainly was a self-conscious act, but did the animal realize it was killing itself? We are yet to know enough about the brains of animals and how they think to know the answer about this, but the present thinking is they do not know what death is. I think just about all of us have heard about whales and dolphins beaching themselves and doing it with other members of their group sometimes. Is this an attempt at mass suicide, or has something happened to their sense of direction. It is thought many animals rely on the magnetic fields of the earth to plot their course. Could it be something can go wrong with this sense and lead them to the wrong place, which in turn can kill them? It turns out whales, porpoises and dolphins use the magnetic field of the earth to navigate at times. It is said by some suicide is also committed in the insect world. An instance of this is from the Malaysian worker ant. When the colony is being attacked, an ant will expose itself to the enemy and then commit suicide by exploding to protect the other ants. A few other insects can do the same thing. While this act is committed on purpose, it is felt it doesn’t know that it means its end. It is pretty obvious when animals are all running off a cliff, they do not know the result of their actions. They are just so overcome with fear they madly dash ahead not even knowing where they are going. Our ancestors used to use this method during the hunt. They would run a herd of animals off a cliff and then claim the spoils. There is a species in the Philippines which is very emotionally sensitive. It is the Tarsier, it is a very cute animal, looking a bit like a Koala. It has very big round green eyes, what look almost like hands and feet. When the animal gets stressed, it goes over to a tree and starts banging its head heavily against it. Some believe it is trying to kill itself. They actually succeed sometimes and are so sensitive tourists are instructed to keep the noise down as not to upset them. We have learned the behaviors found in humans, such as stress which contribute to suicide in humans are also found in animals. There is a report of cats, which were abandoned, healthy cats, landing up in shelter cages and only lasting a couple of days before they die. Is it possible for an animal to get so depressed, it can stop its heart from beating or actually stop breathing? Do cats have a capacity to stop some other body function we are unaware of? Anyway, there are many cases of animal deaths which seem to be from the animals killing themselves for reasons we can only speculate about. The question is if an animal doesn’t know what death means, would you still call an animal which killed itself, an animal which committed suicide? I think on some level, an animal like the dolphin which killed itself knew if it succeeded, it would no longer have to put up with what it was forced to do. I say this because why else would it do what it did?
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