Blog #136--Animals Can Commit Suicide Also

In my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life,” I describe how our pet cat Sheba appeared to have committed suicide by starving herself to death. My blog “Amazing Cat Behavior” (http://dreamtime3.wix.com/jacktuttlebook#!Blog-3Amazing-Animal-Behavior/c1q8z/B5512208-66D2-451E-8458-2921AC72C003), provides greater detail about Sheba’s actions, all of which seemed to demonstrate a conscious effort to commit suicide.

I realize a majority of people in this world prefer to believe only humans are capable of suicide. After all, it implies a conscious choice available only to humans, at least according to humans. But some human suicides are sudden actions that seem right at the time and may or may not be the result of conscious choices. And some animals demonstrate a level of consciousness at least equal to if not greater than that of some humans.

We are told not to anthropomorphize animals with human characteristics, but we are far more like the rest of Nature than different from it. That old canard is for those who doggedly resist the possibility we are related to our fellow mammals and have far more in common with them than we have differences.

Sheba went out of her way to hide what she was doing, a sign of conscious decision-making. And she is certainly not the only animal to appear to commit suicide. There are accounts of animal suicide dating back at least to the mid 19th century and likely far before that.

For instance, a “Scientific American” article from 1847 describes how a male gazelle was so distraught at the death of his mate, he rammed his head into a wall and died. Perhaps he was just frustrated and didn’t realize he would die. But humans sometimes commit suicide secondary to the loss of a long-time mate. How different are the two behaviors? We don’t know what the male gazelle was thinking, but we also don’t always know what the human was thinking. If we assume the human killed himself to join his mate in the afterlife or to escape a life without his loving mate, can’t we assume something similar for the gazelle?

The Overtoun Bridge in Dumbarton, Scotland, is a site where dozens of dogs have leaped to their death onto the rocks below over the last 50 years. The possible reasons for this behavior are multiple, but no one really knows why this is occurring so often. Perhaps each dog had its own reasons for committing suicide. That is, if dogs can reason as well as some humans. Regardless of the causes, the results remain the same.

There are certainly neurological disorders that can adversely affect animal behavior. They have to drink the same water we do, and it is becoming increasingly contaminated with all sorts of pesticides, medicine residues excreted by humans, and other toxins both natural and man-made. The foods they eat may also be infused with toxins that cause neurological problems.

My dog Ginger lived 13 years, but she developed senility problems late in life. Senility can cause major behavioral reversals, and Ginger demonstrated several of them. At the end, she began running into things, so I had to euthanize her to end her suffering. She didn’t commit suicide, but she was certainly suffering. I sincerely believe she asked me to put her out of her misery, especially since I had previously received mental communications from her multiple times that proved accurate.

Many people prefer to believe that neurological imbalances are the primary reason humans commit suicide. After all, they are convinced suicide is immoral, and only those with unstable minds could consider suicide as a viable alternative. This belief system is based on religious teachings claiming God said it was a sin to commit suicide. Given all the changes, additions and subtractions humans have made to religious texts over the centuries, the only proof the text is actually the word of our creator is our blind faith. And this assumption doesn’t always coincide with how our bodies actually work.

We function on the basis of two opposite energies that interact magnetically to balance and perpetuate both internal organ functions and external behaviors. Thus, the part of us that wants to live in a three-dimensional world is opposed by another part that prefers a return to the afterlife, from which it arrived at birth. In other words, there is a part of us that wants to separate from our bodies. That reversal occurs at death, whether we choose the timing of it or not. If the part of us wanting death takes charge, it will make sense to us to commit suicide.

Our bodies must die, but the manner in which they stop functioning is unique to each of us. Perhaps suicide is the only means some of us have to end a particular lifetime. If so, it is simply one step in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth common on the Karmic Wheel. And since we have so much in common with all species on Earth, preferring to believe only humans commit suicide may prove our lack of awareness as to how our world works.

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