user10967: We all know that suicide has been totally refused in Buddhism as unwholesome act.
suicide can be observed in human realm but why not in animal realm? 

user254: I'm not sure that they don't, not sure that it is never observed -- sometimes an old dog walks in front of a car for example, and is killed, and I wonder if they knew what they were doing.
But your question reminds me of a poem, by a non-Buddhist author, it's short and says:

Self-Pity
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

It's a famous poem, striking, maybe worth considering from a Buddhist perspective.
I'm not even sure about that poem, though, not sure that it's true either: its author didn't always write kindly even about people (perhaps he was wrong about animals, too) -- it's hard to be sure of others' motives.
Animals sometimes feel sad, I'm pretty sure of that, and apparently mourn their dead; but perhaps self-pity depends on the ability to tell (or fabricate) a story about oneself: which, maybe, animals don't.

10967: <p>We all know that suicide has been totally refused in Buddhism as unwholesome act.
suicide can be observed in human realm but why not in animal realm? </p>
 254: <p>I'm not sure that they don't, not sure that it is never observed -- sometimes an old dog walks in front of a car for example, and is killed, and I wonder if they knew what they were doing.</p>
<p>But your question reminds me of a poem, by a non-Buddhist author, it's short and says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Self-Pity</strong></p>
<p>I never saw a wild thing<br />
sorry for itself.<br />
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough<br />
without ever having felt sorry for itself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It's a famous poem, striking, maybe worth considering from a Buddhist perspective.</p>
<p>I'm not even sure about that poem, though, not sure that it's true either: its author didn't always write kindly even about people (perhaps he was wrong about animals, too) -- it's hard to be sure of others' motives.</p>
<p>Animals sometimes feel sad, I'm pretty sure of that, and apparently mourn their dead; but perhaps self-pity depends on the ability to tell (or fabricate) a <em>story</em> about oneself: which, maybe, animals don't.</p>
