Are animals capable of hate?
 

Are animals capable of hate? I don't think so. It seems to be an "evolutive" human feature.

Are they capable of love? It seems so, and although that may be something else than love, it surely feels good, and raises love in our human hearts.

Are they capable of what we call "Hate"?

I'm not quite sure. I have seen cats who played merry heck with each other because one wandered into another's area. Hissing and growling and howling. One cat definitely did not want the other cat anywhere near her. What was that based on? It seemed like personal hatred, but that was probably a "human" projection. Most likely instinctive territorial rights.
But I observed that the intruder cat was a bully and did not respect natural boundaries. The other one was upset by that and simply wanted him gone.

So it's hard to ask that cat what she felt. Did she feel fear? Hatred? Oppression? To my view she hated his presence and was very content when his family moved house and took him with them.

I feel they are capable of a quite wide range of emotions, from the negative feelings to the most fine unconditional Love.

I don't think that animals are different from humans. Animals experience feelings of love, happiness, contentment, loyalty, calm, etc....but equally can feel fear, jealousy, anger and intense dislike. This all part of being in the physical realm, where we come to learn.

Our current dog, Forgy, is very loving, friendly and loyal. But there is just one dog whom he meets on his walks sometimes with whom he doesn't get on; no problem with the others. He also suffers from anxiety when left alone for even a short while; he was abandoned and we found him in a dog refuge about a year and a half ago.

So in general terms, I would say that animals are no different from humans.

anmils hav a mindd of y thew own thy do lk vet says thy hav feals of luv hatee 2 do thy do
my brhts 2 cats hatee evhr othr thy do only tim thy get alng wen thy feedin off bowlss

I certainly know that animals are very loving - towards good people. They can sense who has good intentions and who doesn't. My late cat was ever so loving, and I find that generally animals (and children) are drawn to me because they know that I love animals and children.

But yes they can also hate, which they do when they encounter an evil person. I've seen my late cat hit the roof when an evil person came to the house.

I have also recently come across a story where an octopus took a dislike to a lab worker to such an extend that she left. When she returned after a year for a visit, the octopus remembered and soaked her in water again in the same way he had done before. Octopus are known to be very emotional.

Animals have a soul the way we do, but they are so much purer than humans because animals don't hate anyone without reason, and they don't enjoy another's suffering the way so many humans do. Animals are prefect as they are and therefore don't have to go through the cycle of reincarnation - though some do get reincarnated if they want to be with their human parent again.

No, but technically I would say neither do we... unless we actively engage in the idea of 'hatred' in our minds..

Beneath all action is something base and simple.. like fear, love, affection. Others and stuff we like or dislike. Hate is perpetuated fear or contempt for someone else, so to understand this concept we need to have an understanding of time. Without time we cannot hate. Animals are 'in the moment' so there is no hate, just fear or affection towards another..

Animals are more straightforward, whereas we make things complicated due to our minds.. I strongly suspect 'hate' does not exist.. It's just a more elaborate way for us to say we strongly dislike something or someone..

You live in a happier Universe than mine (you wrote: "technically I would say neither do we", and "I strongly suspect 'hate' does not exist"). Maybe because I check the "news" from time to time (?)

Animals are more in tune with there feelings than some people. an animal will sense if you mean it harm.
you have only got to look at Elephants to see how they react when one of their own has died. yes animals are capable of Love, but Love from an Animal is unconditional.
in my opinion an animal will attack when it feels thretend or they defending their young. but it wouldn't be classed as Hate

Namaste

I check the news daily..

There is suffering and illness and ill intent towards others happening in our world. Down to the core we, and animals, experience fear and affection, and there's fight or flight.. in activities, in our own minds..

The question if animals are like us is not a correct one I would say. We have one additional characteristic; a developed mind, that is capable of understanding time, of imagining scenarios, consequences. We understand things intellectually above the animalistic instinct.

Hate is intense dislike sustained over a period of time, but at the core just fear or generated anger. When some people say humans know love but animals just know affection they also make a mistake. They think others are 'projecting' their human concepts upon animals but they fail to see those human concepts are mind constructed concepts to begin with..

I don't know if they're capable of hating a certain person or individual, but I think it's possible for them to hate/dislike certain things. For example, my dog absolutely HATED getting wet even though his kind was bred for swimming. But I assume most if not all animals operate merely on instinct instead of human-like emotions.