© Darius A Irani, 2022
Private James Brown was a driver at the Head Quarters of the 1st Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment (AKA The Prince of Wales Regiment). In 1913 while serving in County Cork in Ireland, he formed a strong bond with a shaggy haired Irish Terrier puppy whom he named Prince, in keeping with the regiment’s name. Prince soon became a regimental groupie and would often accompany the men on their marches.
Shortly afterwards, when Brown returned home to his wife in Hammersmith, London, Prince went with him. In August 1914, Brown and his regiment were shipped off to Flanders on the Western Front. On September 27 Mrs. Brown noticed that Prince was missing. She was so distraught that she even reported it to the Police the next day. In reality, Prince was neither lost nor stolen. He had instead started on an epic journey to reunite himself with his beloved master. Prince first made his way to one of the channel ports, probably Southhampton. Having got there one would think that the English Channel would have been an impossible obstacle - but not for Prince. He attached himself to some troops, used them to sneak aboard a troop ship, and arrived on the mainland.
Now he was truly a stranger in a strange land. None of the sights, sounds and most importantly the smells, would have been familiar to him. Yet he seemed to know exactly where to go. He was initially spotted in Armentieres just west of Flanders. He then turned left and headed for Flanders. As he got closer to the front lines, the sounds and smells of the battlefield would have been almost unbearable, but he just kept going until he got to the trenches themselves. A member of the regiment recognized him and took him to James. On November 26, almost exactly two months to the day that Prince had “disappeared,” Mrs. Brown received a letter from her husband. It included the following text:
“…I am sorry you have not found Prince, and you are never likely to while he is over here with me. It is a very strange thing I should have got him. A man brought him to me from the front trenches. I could not believe my eyes until I got off my horse, and he made a big fuss of me. I believe he came across with some other troops. Just fancy him coming here and finding me. He is quite settled down with me, and I have made him a coat out of some of our old great-coats, which will keep him warm. He is the pet of the Regiment…” (wartimememoriesproject.com)
Within a couple of days, the story of this “miraculous” journey was in almost every newspaper in the country, and came to the attention of the RSPCA. They thoroughly investigated the matter and concluded that it was undeniably true. Prince had travelled over two hundred miles, including crossing the English Channel, and unerringly found his master near the trenches of the Western Front. Prince became the mascot of the regiment and adapted to life on the front. He could sense when a large artillery shell was approaching and would scoot off and hide. James and Prince remained in Flanders until the Armistice, surviving some of the bloodiest battles of the war (Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, Messines and Cambrai). The war must have taken a toll, because Prince died in 1921 at the relatively young age of eight(1).
Although Prince’s journey was remarkable, it is by no means unique. Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is a world-renowned biologist. He spent many years conducting thousands of interviews with pet owners and others working with animals, and wrote a book about this strong - but little understood - bond between animals and humans(2). And it is not just dogs: cats, parrots and even horses have exhibited similar behavior. Sadly, this bond appears to be only one-sided. Our five senses, as valuable as they are, cannot even help us to find a lost pet that is barely two miles away. We have to resort to stapling pictures to telephone poles. Clearly, there is a Sixth sense that animals like Prince can tap into, which is as accurate as any modern GPS system and even knows whether the target is alive or dead.
Lawrence Anthony was the long-standing head of conservation at the Thula Thula animal reserve in Zululand, South Africa. He had a legendary ability to work with, and calm wild elephants. So much so that it earned him the moniker of “Elephant Whisperer.” In 1999 he received a call about a dangerous herd that was about to be shot unless he took them into the Thula Thula reserve. The herd was violent and had escaped from various other enclosures. Nana, the matriarch, hated being confined and hated humans for confining her. She had acquired a few tricks for breaking out of enclosures with high voltage fencing. Sometimes she would deliberately suffer the 8,000 volt shock and push through the pain just to be free. Her current owners were ready to shoot the whole herd if they could not be contained. Remaining within the confines of Thula Thula was their last chance of staying alive.
Lawrence describes an early morning encounter with an enraged Nana who had a baby in tow and was ready to break out. Because of the baby, this was about as dangerous a situation as Lawrence could find himself in. The only thing between them was the 8 foot high electric fence that had no hope of stopping a determined Nana. As he stood pleading with her on the other side of the fence, with both their lives hanging in the balance, he felt a connection. Without any apparent understanding of the pleading words that Lawrence was calmly speaking, Nana somehow realized he was a friend and savior, and she and her herd melted into the bush.
Lawrence’s reputation spread, and more problem elephants were sent to him forming a second herd on the reserve. Lawrence then turned his attention to the plight of the Northern White Rhinoceros, who were on the verge of being exterminated in the DRC. He had planned a fund raising gala dinner late in March 2012 and was preparing for it when he suddenly died of a heart attack on March 2.
Within hours, both herds started a journey of 12 hours to return to the home of the man who had saved them. They had not been anywhere near the property for a year and a half. Could it be just a coincidence that both herds chose that precise time to come back? Having returned, both herds simply milled around the property for two days, in apparent vigil, and then dispersed again. Clearly, they had sensed Lawrence’s death and had returned to pay homage to the man who had saved their lives(3). What is more astounding is the report by ‘World of Buzz’ on November 27, 2019 that the herd had been returning on March 2 for the past Seven years!
This ability to sense and find death, as well as life, is also well documented. There are numerous cases of dogs who go missing and are found at their master’s graveside even though it was many miles away, and they had never ever been anywhere near the cemetery.
It would seem that there is something out there we do not comprehend. Let us call it Nature. It seems to know exactly where we are and whether we are alive or dead. Animals like Prince and Nana are able to tap into this information via a sixth sense that humans do not possess. There is some evidence that we too were once capable of interacting with this medium. However, with our increasing reliance on language and technology, we have lost touch with this primal connection.
In two previous essays, the historical behavior of pathogens suggested that Nature might be sentient, but it was not clear how. Here then is evidence of its awareness. Nature knows who is alive and who is dead, who needs to live and possibly who needs to die.
NOTES:
1. The Wartime Memories Project - The Great War
Pte, James Brown British Army 1st Battalion North Staffordshire
2. “Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home”
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake. Three Rivers Press.
3. “The Elephant Whisperer” By Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spense