Desire to Survive

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 30147

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Heather Glude <res0icpa at v...> wrote:
> 
> I hadn't really thought about this, but now that I have, I wonder 
why 
> dementors don't feed on a normal animal's desire to survive. The 
> survival instinct is one of the strongest out there, and possessed 
by 
> virtually every kind of animal.  
> So, about those dementors? Maybe they do feed on animals - or maybe 
they 
> only feed on the desire to survive, as triggered by their fearsome 
> presence? Maybe animals have evolved a complete lack of fear of 
them, 
> protecting themselves from being drained? 

Maybe the only way to test this would be to put a Dementor into a 
stable filled with horses or a kennel filled with dogs and see what 
happens.  If there are no humans around for the Dementors to feed off 
of, what do they do?  Fall back on some other form of nourishment?  
Go into hibernation?  What did they do before Azkaban came into 
existence, with its smorgasbord of human offerings?  

I suppose if I was a prisoner in Azkaban, I wouldn't want an Animagus 
in a cell anywhere near me.  Once my neighbor takes on his/her 
Animagus form, the Dementors will not be as interested in them, and I 
will seem mighty tasty in comparison.  

Marianne