I think this discussion has gotten a little bit out of control. First, it has NOTHING to do with Mormonism. Just because I happen to be one doesn't mean a thing. It doesn't mean I'm trying to convert anyone to my beliefs (since I've believed animals have spirits long before I was a Mormon).
It also doesn't mean that animals or human have spirits, souls, whatever you want to call it. Originally, I was going to title this thread, "Do YOU Believe Animals Have Spirits?" and subsequently decided to delete the words "YOU" and "Believe" for clarity and brevity. I also intended for the thread to be lighter in nature and not so datgum dogmatic.
Who among us can definitively say whether animals or humans have spirits, anyway? There's no way to prove it scientifically or theologically. I just wanted your opinions. Someone asked me what Mormon beliefs were regarding the matter and I replied; however, as someone else pointed out, it's completely moot as the correctness of Mormonism means very little in a discussion of non-Mormons. Quoting Mormon scripture or Mormon authorities would gain me nothing, which is to say that our opinions and views have no more merit than anyone elses.
I have an evangelical friend who believes that while humans have spirits, animals were created for man's use, to be used as companions, transportation, defense and food. After we're resurrected, humans will have no need of these things, and so they will blink out and we'll get over it as we keep developing.
Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in spirits, but they believe in a "soul" -- that is, intelligence and self-awareness. When we die, it's like flipping off a light switch. Later, Jehovah God will switch back on all the lights in a process they call resurrection. But he won't turn on the lights of animals. With the wicked, he will flip on their lights, judge them and flip them off again.
Then there are my atheist friends who declare that neither animals nor humans have "souls" or spirits. They point out there's no evidence at all that anyone or anything has a spirit, and further, that when people or animals die, there is no change in a body's weight. That said, just a few years ago, no one really was able to comprehend quantum physics. Scientists have been able to create anti-matter and have found certain particles that can exist simultaneously in different "universes" or deminsions. When I was born in 1953, none of this was on the table. And dark matter also was unheard of. So just because scientists have no evidence NOW of spirits doesn't prove anything. Of course the burden of proof is upon believers, not science, and is a matter of faith.