The Mourning News: Animals Grieve

Although I was around with dogs, i've never observed animals mourning first hand. However it is only perfectly logical for animals with higher intelligence, such as apes, whales, dolphins, crows, elephants and pigs to express mourning and feelings. Now about lower intelligence animals I don't know. I know this however! Emotions stem from the brain thus a higher intelligence should be generally an indication of emotion. Mourning is one of the most controversial emotions, because it is a negative emotion that does not directly impact a being but the suffering for another being after it died. Generally I would dare say that most animals should not experience mourning however I can't swear on it. Dogs for example express emotions like happiness and sadness but they occur after an event. For example the dog is happy for seeing you or sad because you scold at him but I did not observe long happiness and anticipation because you promised him something, For example if i tell him I will take you to the forest today he will be instantly happy for a few seconds but will subside and will have no anticipation for the event afterwards (of course i will take him and he will be happy). Emotions are a very complex case but the dogma saying that animals have no emotions at all is totally wrong. (that's what the theologists and the church say, that animals have no soul thus no emotions bla bla bla) Each dog I've met has its own personality and mood and unique. If that is true for dogs then it should be true for most animals (dogs are smart but there are many more animals much smarter). If you think about it humans are also animals. We have vital organs, we are driven by the same insticts (hunger, fear, mating etc). However before any wiseguy says that animals may have more intelligence than humans it's bollocks. Humans are on top of the food chain because of that intelligence. Now if we use our intelligence constructively or not this is a complete different issue. That said, Earth may host entities that are unknown to us of higher intelligence.

Lulu Actually we were going to get her spayed but she got pregnant before we could take her. Plus my boyfriend's family is barely making ends meet so it will take a while to get the money for it again. .'' If you want to pay for it be my guest. Also since it's my boyfriend's cat and he lives with his parents I have absolutely no say in letting the cat live permanently inside. It doesn't help that his mother is extremely allergic to animal dander and already has two rescued cats not from shelters she legitimately SAVED these two cats personally living in the house which causes her to be quite miserable allergy wise. The cats can enter the basement through a kitty door and always have food and water available and a nice bed by the wood stove so it's not like we ignore their existence. I'm not stupid nor lacking in compassion. I know and want to do these things to help the cat. But I personally can not. So I do what I can in the meantime. Again if you would like to donate the money to get her spayed I would be eternally grateful and do so immediately. But it doesn't work that way which I understand giving a total stranger money over the internet is never a good idea. But please do not think that I am ignorant of these facts. I am sorry if this seemed to come out of nowhere but I'm frankly tired of people telling me that I'm not really helping these animals unless I get them fixed. So I should just let them die? Let them continue to be completely neglected and physically abused by their owners who hate them? Ignore their mews for love and attention just because I can't afford to get them spayed or neutered? If I had the money I would do it in a heart beat. Truly I would. The fact that I can't help I'm currently getting my own cats fixed breaks my heart more than you could know.

The most terrible "gift' that humans have is the unbelievably powerful ability to rationalize and deny. The majority of people reading these stories will parrot the old flawed theory of 'anthropomorphism' or inacurrately embuing "animals" with "human" feelings...Where do these 'people' think 'our' feelings came from? But then they probalby don't believe in evolution either. ps Jane Goddall documented mourning in chimps decades ago when the first one she followed Flo died and her 1 year old son Flint stayed at her side and grieved noisily in spite of older siblings trying to get him to eat and to leave his mother. He died at her side...

I recently lost my ferret Roo well just after new year. She was one of my 3 rescues I had. Roo and her brother Zool were from the same litter. They had been together for 8 years. He just hasn't been the same since she left. He still looks for her and I even showed him her body before her cremation. I had to move him in with my other ferrets to keep him company. They never all lived together because Roo had mobility problems from not having her nails clipped when she lived with her previous owner.

Hey Tricia...just F.Y.I. dogs like to bury stuff to save for later.