Some people think animals don't feel emotions
perhaps out of a lack of empathy
or a backlash against anthropomorphism
either way I have a hard time agreeing
because dogs seem ******* when they growl
and there has to be a mechanism to trigger that.

Factors like language and cognition
differentiate humans and animals
so I don't think a dog wonders why it's relaxing on the floor
while a buck's head hangs from the wall.
But I do.

I wonder what goes through the mind of a doe
as it watches its fawn get hit by a car
it may not feel the same depression as us
but it had an instinctual obligation
that has been abruptly removed
there must be some friction in its mind
between what is and should be.

I've felt that friction for animals before
like when I was at my friend's house
he saw a big spider (by Kentucky standards)
and crushed it
dozens of tiny spiders crawled from its corpse
shocked and disgusted
my friend started stomping on all of them
as I watched I felt bad for the spider
she was a mother
that failed her natural duty
due to forces much larger than her
all it took was the wrong place and wrong time
for the result to be crushing failure.

I wonder if animals are more like humans
or if humans are more like animals
because there are plenty of people
that make me wonder if they feel any emotions.