DO ANIMALS COMMIT SUISIDE?

Shannon News, 12 January 1926, Page 1

DO ANIMALS COMMIT SUISIDE?

Whilst some naturalists assert that it is impossible for an animal purposely to seek death as a relief from trouble and stress, because, as Mr. R. Pocock, F.R.S., puts it, "such an act presupposes a foreknowledge of death and its consequences," others are of opinion that animals do occasionally kill themselves purposely. . The following amazing instance of animal suicide lends weight to this last opinion. A two-year-old terrier dog belonging to a labourer at Dunmow, Essex, entered, one day in 1912,.a pond in the town and commenced to swim round and round. It refused to come out when called, and, after swimming in,a circle for about twenty minutes he got weaker and sank lower into the water. The terrier then' deliberately dived to the bottom and did not ris"e again. "Bob," a big black bear belonging to the menagerie in Central Park, New York, committed suicide in the presence of a number of spectators. The head keeper said that the animal stopped taking food, and in other ways showed remorse at having strangled its mate some time previously. One morning "Bob" climbed to the top of the high rocky ledge at the rear of his den and threw himself backward to the asphalt flooring 20 feet below. The fall broke his neck and he died in a».;few minutes.