Suicide of animals.

“A few days ago the Morning-Post recounted the strange story of a dog that is said to have committed suicide. The animal belonged to a Mr. Home, of Frinsbury, near Rochester. It seems that certain circumstances had rendered it suspect of hydrophobia and that, consequently, it was avoided and kept away from the house as much as possible. It seemed to feel great sorrow at being treated thus, and for some days it was noticed to be in a bad mood, gloomy and distressed, but without yet showing any symptom of rabies. On Thursday it was seen to leave its kennel and head toward the residence of an intimate friend of its master, at Upnor, where they refused to take it in, which wrung from it a mournful cry.

“After having waited some time before the house, without managing to be admitted inside, it decided to leave and was seen to go toward the river, which passes nearby, descending the bank with deliberate step; then, and after turning around and letting out a kind of howl of farewell, it entered the river, plunged its head into the water and, after a minute or two, reappeared lifeless at the surface.

“According to what they say, this extraordinary act of suicide was witnessed by a great number of people. The manner of death clearly proves that the animal was not hydrophobic.

“This fact seems quite extraordinary. No doubt it will find skeptics. Nevertheless, says the Droit, it does not lack precedents.

“History has preserved for us the memory of faithful dogs that gave themselves a voluntary death, so as not to survive their masters. Montaigne cites two examples taken from Antiquity: “Hyrcanus, the dog of King Lysimachus, his master having died, remained obstinate upon his bed, refusing to drink or eat, and on the day they burned the body, it ran and threw itself into the fire, where it was burned. The same happened with a dog named Pyrrhus, for it did not leave its master's bed from the moment he died; and when they carried him away, it let itself be carried along and, finally, cast itself into the pyre where its master's body was burning.” (Essays, book II, chapter XII). We ourselves recorded, some years ago, the tragic end of a dog that, having incurred the disgrace of its master, and finding no consolation, had hurled itself from the top of a footbridge into the Saint-Martin canal. The very circumstantial account we then gave of the case was never contradicted, nor did it give rise to any complaint from the interested parties.” (Petit Journal, May 15, 1866) Examples of suicide among animals are not lacking. As was said above, the dog that lets itself die of starvation from the grief of having lost its master commits a true suicide.

The scorpion, surrounded by burning coals, seeing that it cannot escape from there, kills itself. It is one more analogy to be noted between the spirit of man and the [intelligent principle] of animals.

The voluntary death of an animal proves that it has [instinctive, that is, unknowing] consciousness of its existence and of its individuality; it understands [instinctively] what life and death are, for it freely chooses between the one and the other. It is not, then, a machine, and it does not obey, then, exclusively a blind instinct, as is supposed. Instinct impels the seeking of the means of self-preservation, and not of one's own destruction.