A programme last night investigated whether dogs were committing suicide by jumping off a bridge but the conclusion was that they were chasing scents.
The issue was also raised in that famous episode of The Royale Family where Dave claimed his mum and dad's dog had committed suicide by jumping off a balcony.
We all know animals have a range of emotions similar to humans so is it possible an animal will commit suicide if it's depressed enough?
Answers:
My dog talks about it all the time but I don't think he'll really ever go through with it.
Dogs refuse to eat when un happy don't know how far they will go though
oh the poor doggies.
i dont think they have the same thoughts as humans do.
though i suppose its possible though.
Lemmings throwing themselves off clifs in thousands.
Whales and dolphins 'beaching' themselves. - the scientific perspective on that is that it's because of pollution, but it's not proven yet.
yes my dog did it ran of the breakwater
Yes take the Lemming they for some reason will.Thousands will for some reason follow the leader and run right off a cliff m Go gogle the animal lemming and read about it.
Hey, lemmings jump off cliffs!
Greyfriars Bobby is the most famous example of a depressed pet.
Hey i have heard about this fish called the arrowana who "commited suicide" when its original owner wanted to sell it away..
But for cats,dogs, rabbits, pigoens - nah.. they don't. They usually die due to a sense went wrong..
never heard of lemmings?
lemmings do..i think,well they do on my game hehehe
Lemmings do! there was a program on last night about the bog suicide bridge near Dumbarton where more than 50 dogs have jumped to there death since 1950's. All of the same side. Wanted to watch it but I forgot !!
I don't see why not. Animals feel pain, fear, hurt. No different from us humans.
There has been cases of cows jumping off the truck onto the way to an abortoir, as they smelt blood and death. I would too if I knew what was ahead! :-(
think of moths!
No, no and no. Did you watch the whole of the programme? Animals do not have a thought process like that. What next? Cats slashing their wrists with their claws?
The popular footage of lemmings jumping off a cliff was down to the camera crew scaring them not because they were involved in a 'Waco' style mass suicide. F*cking hell are you people really so dumb?
Well yes! That's why a cat has nine lives. My cat has used eight of his up..he will keep running in front of cars.
In fact, the behavior of lemmings is much the same as that of many other rodents which have periodic population booms and then disperse in all directions, seeking the food and shelter that their natural habitat cannot provide. (The Australian Long-haired Rat is one example.) The actual reason for their 'suicide' deaths is because lemmings have poor eyesight and cannot distinguish a small river, which they can easily cross, from a fjord, in which they will almost surely drown.
It is a myth that Lemmings commit suicide. They fall off the edges of ravines when they are migrating en masse.
Some animals stop eating when they are miserable. But that would only be suicide if they knew it was going to kill them.
Without a scientifically-based study i'd have to say "no". but whales beaching themselves - still a mystery!
I dont know, Because my grandfather owed a dog, he been in the family foryears. after my grandfather passed away, his dog stopped eating, n was very sad. after 2 weeks he passed away too.
That opens up a whole can of worms, because in order to commit suicide, you need to understand the concept of life and death so its probable that animals don't understand it. Mind you they are capable of doing daft things in which they end up dead. That's more likely.
Have you ever heard of an elephants graveyard? The theory is that they know when they are going to die and always go back to the same place to be with their "ancestor" bones. Its proven that they grieve a loss, so who knows? Animals do seem to have an instinct for "the end" but I dunno about suicide. Maybe they withdraw from their pack at that time to preserve available resources? Is that the same as suicide?
Whales do it all the time by beaching them selves
Hi Grizzley
I have never heard of any animal committing suicide,,That's news to me. But when my cat died i knew it have 9 life's but i just thought that they were up. Then my daughter told me that she had only used 8 of them. So now i know she has committed suicide thanks for that LOL
The goldfish on the film Amelie was depressed and tried to commit suicide by jumping out of it's bowl.
Apart from that I'm not sure, I wouldn't think so.
I have this image of a dog, sitting in its kennel, poster of Kurt Cobain inside, Nirvana playing on the stereo. The dog's dressed up like a Goth, and it's toying with a shotgun .
:-D
In nature, there are examples of animals deliberately willing themselves to die. Fertilised cuttlefish females will sequester themselves in a hole with their eggs, and refuse to eat, hunt or sleep. In the end, exhausted and starving, they die, and their bodies provide the first meal for the emerging cuttlefish larvae.
Same goes for several species of insects and arachnids.
So it can be said that some animal species do commit suicide. But that's only as a conclusion to their natural lives.
lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers.
These deaths are not deliberate "suicide" attempts!!
But accidental deaths resulting from the lemmings' venturing into unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges.
In fact, when the competition for food, space, or mates becomes too intense, lemmings are much more likely to kill each other than to kill themselves.
When animals like dogs are badly hurt.they can refuse to eat,so can other animals.that is to speed up thier dying.
NO animals do not commit suicide..if something happens to a dog or cats owner..at times the animal can react?.but They do not have the need to do things like humans.They are very one minded.They most certainly if depressed stop eating or drinking.and that causes death.But no suicide.
well having spent all my life around horses - i have yet to come across one setting up a hanging rope for themselves - and definately I havent come across any with a bottle of vodka and a packet of empty pills laid on the stable floor - so NO i think we can safely agree that horses do not commit suicide! xx
My grandad was convinced that his dog ended its own life. The whole family had been visiting and we all left at the same time, his dog, Sweep, disapeared soon after we left and was run down. The driver of the car was a family friend and maintained that Sweep waited at the side of the road until the car was almost passing and jumped out onto the road, standing in the cars path. I don't think if the driver was trying to excuse the accident, or if my grandfather was trying to make sence of what happened but, as a family, we do believe that Sweep was very distressed at us all leaving. I was only 12 at the time and it made perfect sense. I'm sure animals feel a whole range of emotions but, as an adult, i'm not totally convinced they would understand the concept of death
I don't think that dogs commit suicide because I don't think that they understand that they can change their future by their own actions.
I also don't think they have any concept of death although I appreciate they have a strong instinct towards self preservation.
I do think that they can become depressed either as the result of an emotional trauma like losing a human or canine companion or because of illness.
I didn't watch the end of last night's programme because I could see where it was going. I know of several instances where dogs have jumped off high places.
One dog jumped off the pub roof where it have lived for years and broke a leg. Another one jumped over the wall of a multi-storey car park and was killed. Another one jumped off a cliff chasing sea birds but fortunately the tide was in and he could swim otherwise he would have been killed landing on the rocks.
None of these dogs were depressed - they were all excited and just being dogs. We are always hearing about dogs falling over cliffs or being hit by cars but we don't think they do it deliberately - they don't fling themselves under cars to end their lives.
If I lived near that bridge I would do what I always do if I am near something or somewhere that might endanger my dogs' lives - I put them on the lead.
I've been told that no dog is stupid enough to jump off a bridge or cliff or whatever when I've done this in the past but even though they are bright, intelligent and well trained I don't trust them enough to find out.
A severely depressed dog is more likely to lose interest in everything and spend most of its time either sleeping or lying down and staring at nothing. It will stop eating and drinking and unless it is helped it might eventually die. People will say that the dog wanted to die. I would say that they lose the will to live which is different.
Depression in dogs can be treated and most dogs will make a full recovery. I have seen one of my own dogs become severely depressed when her lifelong companion died and I have also seen depression in one of the dogs who was very ill. The first recovered with time and the other with treatment for the illness. Both needed TLC!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment