What happens to animals when they die?

Animals act by instinct and cannot choose between good and evil. That is why they are not held to account and need neither reward nor punishment as human beings do.

This is a wise question, even though it is often asked by children. Anyone who knows that people will give account of their lives after death may rightly wonder what happens to animals.

Animals were not created for their own sake but as a support for mankind. This support is not always direct. Every animal plays its part in a great web in which everything depends on everything else. Remove one species and the whole food chain is thrown off balance. So animals are not the goal of creation. They serve that goal, and the goal is man.

That is why only human beings have been given a real choice. In fact, the question already holds its own answer. Whoever does good goes to Paradise, and whoever does evil goes to Hell. But only someone who can choose can act well or badly.

Can you imagine a cat suddenly deciding to lead a decent life? Or a lion that takes pity on the other animals and resolves to eat only grass? That is not in their power. Everything animals do, they do by instinct.

Because their behaviour is instinctive, there is nothing to reward and nothing to punish. Animals are not judged, because they bear no responsibility. Their life has fulfilled its meaning by filling its place in creation.