Animal suicide“A few days ago, The Morning Post told the strange story of a dog that allegedly committed suicide. The animal was owned by a Mr. Home, of Frinsbury, near Rochester. It appears that certain circumstances had led to suspect that it was suffering from rabies, and consequently it was avoided and kept away from the house, as much as possible.
It seemed to experience a great deal of annoyance at being treated like this, and for a few days it was noticed that the dog was in a gloomy and grieving mood but showing no symptoms of rage yet. Thursday he was seen leaving his niche and heading towards the residence of a close friend of his master at Upnor, where he was refused to welcome him, which drew a lamentable cry from him.
On Thursday it was seen leaving its niche and heading towards the residence of a close friend of his master, in Upnor, where it was not welcomed, producing a lamentable cry.
After having waited some time in front of the house, not obtaining permission to get inside, the god decided to leave, and was seen going to the side of the river that passes by, descending the bank with a deliberate step, and then, after turning around and sending a sort of farewell howl, entering the river, plunging the head under the water, and after a minute or two, reappearing lifeless on the surface.
This extraordinary act of suicide was said to have been witnessed by many people. The kind of death clearly proves that the animal was not hydrophobic.
This fact seems very extraordinary; it will, no doubt, meet skeptical. Nevertheless, says the Droit, it is not without precedent.
History has preserved us the memory of faithful dogs that threw themselves to voluntary death, so as not to outlive their masters. Montaigne cites two examples borrowed from antiquity: "Hyrcanus, the dog of King Lysimachus, its dead master, remained obstinate in bed, not willing to eat or drink, and the day the body of his master was burned, it ran and threw itself in the fire, where it was burnt; as the dog of a man named Pyrrhus also did, for it did not move from its master's bed since he was dead; and when he was carried away, the dog let itself be taken away with him, and finally threw itself into the fire where the body of his master was burning. (Essays, book II, chap. XII.) We, ourselves, recorde, a few years ago, the tragic end of a dog that, having lost the love of his master, and unable to find consolation, it rushed from the top of a footbridge, in the Saint-Martin canal. The very detailed account that we then gave of this event has never been contradicted and has not given rise to any complaint from the concerned parties."
Petit Journal, May 15th, 1866
Animal suicide is not without example. The dog, as it was said above, that allows itself to die of starvation, out of sorrow for having lost its master, carries out a real suicide. The scorpion, surrounded by a circle of hot coals, seeing that it cannot get out, kills itself. It is one more analogy to be noted between the Spirit of man and that of animals.
The voluntary death of an animal proves that it is aware of its existence and of its individuality; it understands what life and death are, since it chooses freely between one and the other; it is, therefore, not so much a machine, and does not obey an exclusively blind instinct, as is supposed. Instinct drives the search for means of preservation, and not of its own destruction.
