Do Animals Suffer?

IF animals suffer it is likely that they suffer the most from their ignorance of the world around them.

Most animals don't understand death. No one teaches them this. So, mostly they are instinctual. You can call them primitive but it is also possible that humans could go extinct or completely decide to leave planet earth and the ecosystem including all or most creatures would continue uninterrupted without us.

So, do animals suffer?

On one level this is debatable because in order to suffer you have to have some sort of reference point in all this.

What is your criteria for suffering?

When we anthropomorphize animals in a sense we do them a disservice because in the end they are not humans.

For example, did you know that your dog cannot even see color?

They see in black and white and grey. That's all.

Their most developed senses are around smelling and hearing.

Sight is not as useful to them as it is in humans.

Imagine if you could only see in black and white like in black and white movies on TV?

What differences would that make in your perceptions?

So, this is just one of an infinity of differences just between dogs and humans let alone
every other species here on earth.

So, to say that animals suffer is to say that they are experiencing something completely different in most cases from what humans call suffering.

Also, another strange fact is suffering is one of the causes of animal and human evolution in both the ways brains and bodies operate over time.

Also, just being a human being for some might be called suffering.

I know when I was young I really didn't like the idea of being a human being at all.

However, now I've gotten used to it and don't worry about this as much as before.

I see being a human being as helpful to the ongoing evolution of my soul now.

But, different beings are going to see things in different ways whether they are humans, animals, birds,  fish, insects etc.