A
Anonymous
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One of those random, idle thoughts - is suicide a purely human trait or is it also something that occurs in the animal kingdom?
And no myths about lemmings, please
And no myths about lemmings, please
Not wishing to sound macabre, but if hanging takes longer than a couple of seconds, you're doing it wrong. The correct way to hang someone is to drop them far enough that the jolt on the end of the rope snaps their neck. (How long they actually live after this isn't exaclty clear, but the idea is that it is relatively quick and painless.) This isn't to say that dangling from the end of the rope won't kill you, but it does give you more of a chance to get discovered.Pinklefish said:Hanging isn't a nice way to go. It's too slow. It often fails.
Er, excuse me! Birds can be extremely intelligent (look at me, I can type ) Crows have been observed using tools, and as for psitacines, need I say more? Blasted cheek! I'll put it down to the alceehol.Pinklefish said:But then there's the swans who seem to have a lifetime attachment to each other, but as they are only birds, you wonder if emotional attatchments are more than based on intelligence.
Google only found to be a handful of links on the subject.
This one is on the suicide of tarsiers in captivity.
This one is a general q&a onsuicide in animals- sorry about the pidgin English, it was translated by Google.
Link is dead. The MIA webpage (in its original French) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020805094614/http://www.cybersciences.com/cyber/2.0/q3867.asp
Wastrel said:...the causes given were failure of the animals' ability to navigate, probably caused by disease or manmade interference like engine sound...
Suicide's just a theory as well. We just don't know, but what I do know is that if we all decide that it must be suicide then we have no hope of ever finding out the truth.Fallen Angel said:But those are just theories as to the causes.
Sounds more like auto-erotic accidental death during fetishistic rituals to me. That's a whole different kettle of fish (or dead rats).daftbugger said:Aren't there stories about groups of rats found dead in a circle with their tails linked together? Group suicide prehaps?
daftbugger said:Aren't there stories about groups of rats found dead in a circle with their tails linked together? Group suicide prehaps?
:shock: :shock: Don't know about you folks, but this is the strangest thing I've heard of for a very long time :shock: :shock:"Mystery of canine ‘suicides’ at eerie bridge
ALAN MACDERMID March 03 2005
The ancient burgh has had its ups and downs. Being turned into a corner of Glasgow by the makers of River City may have been the last straw.
But can it have affected Dumbarton so badly that even the dogs have lost the will to live?
Animal experts admitted yesterday they had no explanation for a spate of what appear to be canine suicides – all from the same spot.
At least five dogs have jumped to their deaths from a bridge over a burn at Overtoun House in the past six months.
In the most recent case, a woman out walking her dog watched in disbelief as her pet suddenly vaulted over the parapet and plunged 40ft to its death.
The bridge attracts visitors and dog-walkers, but it already has an eerie past. It was the home of Lord Overtoun, owner of a huge chemical works and pillar of the Free Church, and was the location for a BBC TV series Tales from the Madhouse.
But neither the dogs' shocked owners nor animal behavioural experts have been able to explain why the pets have turned the beauty spot into Rover's Leap.
Joyce Stewart, a leading animal behaviourist who regularly works with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), said the pattern of deaths at the bridge was abnormal.
She said: "Dogs are very able to gauge the heights and depths they can safely jump. Some people will say this is very spooky and would look for another reason.
"I have never heard of a dog committing suicide. Often if they know they are going to die, they might go into hiding, but I have never heard of them actually taking their own lives.
"This is very weird. For five dogs to have done the same thing at the same spot is very mysterious. But there must be some rational explanation for it that has just not emerged.
"The bridge and what has happened there need to be urgently investigated."
Overtoun House was built in 1863 by James White, the father of Lord Overtoun. It was built as an ornate religious symbol and has the words "Fear God and keep His commandments" carved into its walls.
Local historians describe it as a place where angels and gargoyles are said to keep company.
It is now being renovated as a Christian Centre for Hope & Healing – part of a £2.5m project by Pastor Bob Hill.
But the outbreak of lemming-like behaviour has sent shudders down the spines of animal welfare inspectors, local residents and dog owners.
A spokeswoman for the SSPCA warned dog owners to get their pets on leads around the bridge.
She added: "It does seem rather strange that so many dogs are doing this at this same spot and it must have been heartbreaking for the owners."
One owner, who lost her cocker spaniel when it recently leapt off the bridge, said: "I know that a number of other dogs have died after jumping from that spot .I read somewhere that Dumbarton is one of the most depressing places to live in Britain, but I thought that meant for humans, not dogs."
The ancient burgh has had its ups and downs. Being turned into a corner of Glasgow by the makers of River City may have been the last straw.
But can it have affected Dumbarton so badly that even the dogs have lost the will to live?
Animal experts admitted yesterday they had no explanation for a spate of what appear to be canine suicides – all from the same spot.
At least five dogs have jumped to their deaths from a bridge over a burn at Overtoun House in the past six months.
In the most recent case, a woman out walking her dog watched in disbelief as her pet suddenly vaulted over the parapet and plunged 40ft to its death.
The bridge attracts visitors and dog-walkers, but it already has an eerie past. It was the home of Lord Overtoun, owner of a huge chemical works and pillar of the Free Church, and was the location for a BBC TV series Tales from the Madhouse.
But neither the dogs' shocked owners nor animal behavioural experts have been able to explain why the pets have turned the beauty spot into Rover's Leap.
Joyce Stewart, a leading animal behaviourist who regularly works with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), said the pattern of deaths at the bridge was abnormal.
She said: "Dogs are very able to gauge the heights and depths they can safely jump. Some people will say this is very spooky and would look for another reason.
"I have never heard of a dog committing suicide. Often if they know they are going to die, they might go into hiding, but I have never heard of them actually taking their own lives.
"This is very weird. For five dogs to have done the same thing at the same spot is very mysterious. But there must be some rational explanation for it that has just not emerged.
"The bridge and what has happened there need to be urgently investigated."
Overtoun House was built in 1863 by James White, the father of Lord Overtoun. It was built as an ornate religious symbol and has the words "Fear God and keep His commandments" carved into its walls.
Local historians describe it as a place where angels and gargoyles are said to keep company.
It is now being renovated as a Christian Centre for Hope & Healing – part of a £2.5m project by Pastor Bob Hill.
But the outbreak of lemming-like behaviour has sent shudders down the spines of animal welfare inspectors, local residents and dog owners.
A spokeswoman for the SSPCA warned dog owners to get their pets on leads around the bridge.
She added: "It does seem rather strange that so many dogs are doing this at this same spot and it must have been heartbreaking for the owners."
One owner, who lost her cocker spaniel when it recently leapt off the bridge, said: "I know that a number of other dogs have died after jumping from that spot .I read somewhere that Dumbarton is one of the most depressing places to live in Britain, but I thought that meant for humans, not dogs."
The ancient burgh has had its ups and downs. Being turned into a corner of Glasgow by the makers of River City may have been the last straw.
But can it have affected Dumbarton so badly that even the dogs have lost the will to live?
Animal experts admitted yesterday they had no explanation for a spate of what appear to be canine suicides – all from the same spot.
At least five dogs have jumped to their deaths from a bridge over a burn at Overtoun House in the past six months.
In the most recent case, a woman out walking her dog watched in disbelief as her pet suddenly vaulted over the parapet and plunged 40ft to its death.
The bridge attracts visitors and dog-walkers, but it already has an eerie past. It was the home of Lord Overtoun, owner of a huge chemical works and pillar of the Free Church, and was the location for a BBC TV series Tales from the Madhouse.
But neither the dogs' shocked owners nor animal behavioural experts have been able to explain why the pets have turned the beauty spot into Rover's Leap.
Joyce Stewart, a leading animal behaviourist who regularly works with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), said the pattern of deaths at the bridge was abnormal.
She said: "Dogs are very able to gauge the heights and depths they can safely jump. Some people will say this is very spooky and would look for another reason."
Round her we sometimes get seagulls and swans with fishing line around their legs, which I'd imagine could lead to the loss of the leg.GNC said:Maybe they're one of those pigeons who have mysteriously lost a leg. There's no explanation for that either.