A Donkey’s Suicide

Donkeys in Sudan are so miserable, they end their own lives.
Priyanko Sarkar tries to find out if animals can really do that:

IT’s perplexing
thought. That only intelligent life can have the ability

to end itself.
It’s an idea, though, that we all instinctively accept. Yet, a few weeks ago,
journalist Manu Pubby reported that Indian soldiers who are part of the UN
peace- keeping force in Sudan, are grappling with the problem of overworked
donkeys choosing to end their miserable lives. “A donkey (still tethered to the
water cart that it was pulling), ran towards the Nile. As he approached the
banks, he plunged into the river and moved towards the current. And the strong
current of the mighty river swept it to a watery grave,” reported Major Shambhu
Singh. Another donkey there preferred o be beaten to death by its master than continue
with its wretched life. In fact, doctors in Sudan have advised that the cure
for suicidal donkeys is human kindness, rest and a grain diet.

While this
phenomenon is disturbing and makes us wonder how we can be so cruel as to make
donkeys end their own lives, not everybody believes that animals are capable of
suicide. Isaac Kehimkar of Bombay Natural History Society insists that suicide
is a human concept.

Dr.VN Appaji
Rao, Vice-Chairman, Animal Welfare Board of India says animals do not have the
ability to store memory of events to derive the judgment that their lives suck.

The founder
president of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Ingrid Newkirk,
responded to an email questionnaire by saying, vaguely, “What we know is that
Jacques talked of captive dolphins deliberately killing themselves in aquarium
tanks by ramming their heads at speed into the walls.”

Our traditional
view of animals is changing fast. It is widely accepted today that animals
love, hate, get hurt, and even’ exhibit some sort of personality traits. But it
is not clear if they choose to kill themselves.

Jigeesha
Thakore, secretary of the All India Animal Welfare Association, says that she
has thought about the issue very deeply. She has observed old dogs leaving
their known territory and going to a secluded place when they near their end.
But does this signify a certain awareness of life and death? Probably such dogs
merely follow their primal instincts to seek out the safety of isolation when
they are too weak to survive in the open. That they will eventually die is a
fact they are unaware of.

But there are
dog lovers who are full of disturbing stories. Abodh Aras, CEO of Welfare for
stray dogs, an NGO, says, “I know of perfectly healthy dogs who stopped eating
for over a week after they were abandoned, and were later found dead. Like
human beings, animals also get separation anxiety.” Dr. Jagadeshchandra
Punetha, director of World Wildlife Fund in Maharashtra, says, “Animals are
closer to nature and sudden changes can make them kill themselves. I come from
Himachal Pradesh where ponies are a popular mode of transport. Sometimes if
owners ill-treat them, they just stare with their sad eyes, sit down and die.
They cannot communicate but they understand our facial expressions.”

Dr.Umesh
Karkare, founder member of the Pet Practitioners Association of Mumbai whose
clinic treats canines of Mumbai’s rich, says, “Whales know what they are doing
when they beach themselves. So suicide is a possibility. I have heard that
Chatrapathi Shivaji’s dog had jumped into the funeral pyre when (the remains
of) Shivaji was being burned.”

Every
observation of those who believe animals can be driven to suicide can be
countered by science. There is a difference between fatal actions and the
knowledge that a set of actions will lead to death. It is not clear, at the
moment, if animals are aware of the concept of death. But then it is also not
clear why a donkey in Sudan will fling itself, with its cart, into the
turbulence of the Nile. TNN

Priyanko Sarkar- Sunday Times of India, March 23, 2008.

This takes me
down my memory lane to 30 years are more back when my pet cat died after
fasting for 12 days.