Have you ever heard of animals committing suicide? Is suicide real among them? Do animals really, knowingly attempt suicide?
Suicide is the act of killing oneself intentionally. Suicide seems to be a uniquely human experience. Suicide among humans is dreadfully common. Across the world, more people die from suicide than in all wars and homicides combined.
Animals can suffer from health issues like humans do, such as anxiety or PTSD. This can lead animals to do self-destructive things. But even so, these animals are not trying to die. Animals may do things that lead to their death, but it isn’t intentional. They don’t understand what they’re doing.
Animals Suicide
Although people may quickly brush off the question, “Can animals commit suicide?” as a silly, and fantastically anthropomorphic. But, let’s give the question some serious thought.
We all may have a belief that animals are incapable of the kind of self-reflective, purposeful behavior that makes human suicide what it is. It also requires an awareness of death, and animals, don’t have these capacities.
We’ve all heard of dogs who die soon after their owners. However, they do not die of grief. Dogs who die soon after their owners do so because they won’t accept food from anyone other than their owner. It’s all because of a broken social tie that causes their deaths, and these dogs are not trying to die.
