Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-24
SUICIDE OF ANIMALS
DUMB BRUTEs, DEsPONDENT,
TAKE THEIR LIFE.
Dogs Most frequently Commit Self
Murder-A Question for
biologists.

"A lew Gays ago q zebra was 1OunC QeaU IN
the Dublin geological gardens under cir
cumstances which, according to the report,
suggest deliberate attempt to take it's
own life. The question whether animals
can commit suicide is not new one; and 1t
has of late been answered. perhaps rather
too confidently. in the affirmative. But the
evidence on which this opinion is founded
is generally open to a different interpre-
tation. Suicide necessarily involves inten-
ton and design; and in most of the cases
recorded this is invariably suggested by
those who could only observe the external
facts of the incident. And these are 30
curiously interviewer with the plausible at
tributicE of motive" that they cease to
have airy scientific value. When we hear
of the fool of dog who insists on com
uniting suicide under the wheels of a
motor car. we know exactly the meaning
which its driver intends to convey. If the
car collides with such an obstruction 1t is
bad for the dog" He may be stupid, be-
wildered, and lose his head, but we proper
~ acquit him of any feionious intention.
N France, however. so-called canine sui
c1oe' Is of frequent occurrence, and very
deliberate one was lately reported from
Paris. A dog was much attached to an
other belonging to friend of his master,
but this having been sent away into the
country the bereaved dog was much d.s-
tressed. After remaining for some days
quite inconsolable, the poor creature walk
ed into the Rue Rome. and deliberately
placing itself in front of an Apr oaching
tramcaP, was killed on the spot
Had Sad Look.
Another unhappy dog is said to have de-
Nberately drowned itself at Montrichard.
In this case. the animal. having been lest,
was taken home by a stranger. who vainly
eL deavored to find its owner. Mi5era5 BILE,
apparently, at the loss of its old master,
and having for some offense received a
beating from it's new one, the dog at once
went off to a neighboring stream plunged
into the water and STRUCK out until it was
exhausted and sank That is to say, It
prolonged its agonies to the utmost which,
assuming the Intention" is hardly the
course We might suppose the ami to
have taken. Again, the supposed suicide
of dog in England is thus described: Tile
poor animal old. infirm, paraiyzed.
useless, an outcast and a Wandered. Prior
to its suicide by drowning it was character
lied by sadness of look. 1t obviously pom
dered its course of action. exhbite1 for II
time hesitancy, but at last came to a de-
clsion. and acted upon it with pronptness
and resolution. 1t preferred death to its
experience of life, and refused to allow
Itself to be saved" But this is surely, Il
piece of special pleading. Winno wing from
the chaff of inference the grains of fact
In this, doubtless, sympathetic statement,
j. Is easy to imagine an infirm and para
iyzed dog wearing a sad look. Nor is it
surprising that. entering the water under
such conditions the animal should have
miscalculated its strength and been acct
dentally drowned. In the same way. it is
related of horse suffering from painful
disease, that it betook itself to the sea-
shore, and in the most determined way held
its head under the water, "as the only pro
test it could enter against the cruelty of
circumstances and the hopelessness of 'eX-
istence." But this suggests the obvious
comment that immersion in the sea water
m O
its suffering condition, and that in par
oxysm of its disorder it could not with
dIaw from it, and was thus accidentally
dI owned. t.tr
Insects Included.
In the same loose and unsatisfactory
manner the act of suicide has been attrib-
uted to many varieties of birds, beasts and
fishes; and even butterflies have been
charged with the deliberate intention of
thus shortening their brief span of exist
ence. Some time ago it was seriously
stated that several hundred turtle con
spired to de together, and carried out their
decision on one of the Seychelle Islands,
opposite the harbor of Port Victoria; an
item of intelligence which seemed to invite
the addition: 1.-The rash act Is supposed to
have been committed In consequence of a
contract entered into by the island author
tiles with a well-known London purveyor
coming TO the knowledge of the turtle
But we may well feel surprised when a
scientific journal gravely announces an
epidemic of suicide" among the herrings
and sprats in Deal Roads, where these fish
rushed ashore in such myrads that the
fishermen grew tired of carting them Off
It is, however, fact of common knowl-
edge that shoals of small fish often thus
behave when pressed by sharks, dogfish and
other enemies. Even predatory sea birds
will sometimes combine to drive them land
ward They force the behring's to huddle
together, and in the efforts to escape they
have been known to throw themselves in
masses on the beach, thus furnishing the
local reporter with another instance of AMI
NAL suicide" Scorpions, spiders and wasps
have also been placed in the apocryphal
list of creatures capable of committing the
rash act;" while instances OF so-caiied
suicide are recorded Of the ass and mule;
the camel, monkey and deer and the
stork, jackdaw and canvasback duck. The
catalogue might be still enlarged. but
really for no useful or practical purpose