Animals Grieving/Mourning their dead - Research Paper Example

When it comes to humans, they suffer from the deaths of their loved ones as well as they do when their pets dies. Surprisingly, animals also suffer from the deaths of their loved ones (that might be the owner or a fellow animal) (Heilman 27). For animals, the death of their individual is equal to the loss of a non-judgmental love in the family. Therefore, the death of an animal from one loving family of the same individuals brings the sense of loneliness: the nature takes its course in which bereaved entities loose the contact with the natural world (Walter and McCoyd 42).

Animals, including dogs, elephants, bears, chimpanzees, and dolphins among others, often express the same feelings and emotions following the death of their mates, youngsters, and members of the clans as well as their owners in case of pets. Owner Mourning a Pet Grieving process of human beings is never a cut and dried process that can be divided into strict categories. However, the human grieving process may be considered as a continuum where everybody has a different experience or ways of expressing the grieving experience.

Therefore, dividing the mourning experience into stages helps the mourning person to understand these emotions as a normal occurrence (Bekoff, “Grief in animals”). . In this stage, a person often feels bewildered and stunned by the death, perceiving everything as unreal. After the moment of denial, the moment of anger strikes in and a person lashes out at his or her friends, family, veterinarians, God, and the entire world. Sometimes this stage leads to fear or guilt in one’s experience (Bender, “10 Heartbreaking…”).

After some times of denial, the bereaved gets into the bargaining stage where he or she asks for a reward or deal with the veterinarians, the Clergy, or God (Lorenzi 126). However, this behavior can never be observed within animal communities. In fact, nobody knows whether animals have spiritual believes (Walter and McLoyd 221). Thus, this stage is realistic for the humans but can never be observed in the animals. After a series of bargaining, the bereaved persons advance to the depression stage.

This is a reaction to the change in ways of life brought about by the loss of a pet. Here, the bereaved people feel intensely hopeless, sad, helpless, and drained following the loss of the loved one (Birchenall and Mary 87). Some parts of such experience are real for the animals as well. After a period of depression, the person accepts the reality of the death. The acceptance leads the person to a new and stable lifestyle. Human beings mourn and have the same mourning experience for the fellow human beings (Walter and.

McLoyd 88). Nonetheless, the intensity and the depth of the grieving process depend on numerous factors. Some of the significant factors defining the length of the morning period of pets include the age of the owner and circumstances, which led to the death (Moorey 01). Moreover, the relationship between the pet and the owner or other family members also affects the experienced mourning. In some