How Animals Mourn Their Dead Mates

Write a 2000 word paper answering; 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 a sense of loneliness: nature takes its course in which bereaved entities lose 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.The 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”). Some people often get quickly over some of these stages or through the whole mourning process while others may stick in the phase for a longer period. Some of the morning stages include shock and denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Longman, Ryken, and Wilhoit 84).Shock and denial is the stage on which the bereaved does not accept the reality affected by the death of his or her loved one. 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.