Our pets can sense when we’re in pain or dying – even from hundreds of miles away: I’m an ex-Cambridge academic and these startling, inexplicable stories convinced me..
By Dr Rupert Sheldrake
Published: 21:21 EDT, 23 July 2024 | Updated: 22:11 EDT, 23 July 2024
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For more than 30 years I have been collecting case evidence of animals that appear to know by intuition or telepathy when the humans they love have suffered a serious, sometimes fatal, accident.
The existence of so many independent reports is persuasive, writes Dr Sheldrake, who has been collecting evidence of animal intuition or telepathy for more than 30 years
The bond between owner and animal is indeed a real connection, linking them together invisibly, even over thousands of miles
This isn’t a subject that lends itself to experimental investigation. Evidence can only come from chance events, not laboratory tests, since it is obviously impossible to stage dangerous incidents. But in my files I now have more than 100 accounts of dogs appearing to respond to distant injuries or deaths of their human companions, and about half as many cases involving cats.
The existence of so many independent reports persuades me that this is a real phenomenon, even though it is not possible to do experiments. Further research is needed through the collection of more well- documented stories.
My theory is simple: the bond between person and animal is indeed a real connection, linking them together invisibly, even over thousands of miles. Death and danger disrupt this bond.
To take a simple analogy, if two people are connected by a stretched elastic band, and one of them shakes it or lets it go, the other feels a difference. Even if they do not know exactly what is happening to the other person involved, they know something is happening.
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Based on anecdotal evidence, his theory seems to have some basis in fact. I haven’t formed a “reasoned belief” to any degree of certainty, but it certainly seems possible. I’ve read many stories about “loyal dogs”, graveside visits, and such. We know that dogs can smell disease, so why can’t they have some type of ESP. We have seen anecdotal evidence about the connection of human twins. Why can’t there be more to the physical world than we know right now?
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