I voted no, and because humans are animals, we are included. "Soul" is a part of the supernatural menagerie of irrational things and as such has no place in the atheist/agnostic toolbox.

Man has used this notion of soul to do several things that are negative to civilizations. First, as a tool to control the masses. That "eternal soul" can be damned or blessed for all eternity. The threat hangs heavily over you. Behave and be blessed, or don't play by our rules and be damned. It has been used to stratify our existence by measuring the worth of soul. It has been used to separate us from the rest of the inhabitants of our world. To give us dominion over....

Soul is the vehicle that travels to heaven or hell. All of this is absurd on its surface and sinister in its depths.

I think of them as sentient beings..

Given that I don't believe humans have souls, we're alive and have individual personalities, then animals don't have 'souls'. They are, however , alive and have personalities too, some of which are emphasised/developed through interaction with humanity.

I'm a non believer. When you die there is nothing. Until it's proved and shown clealry.

My Sunday school teacher told me no but then I don't think anyone has a soul

No more than we do. Since we don't, neither do they.

If we mean do they have intelligence and awareness, and can they have compassion for others, yes. obviously depending on the animal. do they have an awareness which transcends existence, no. humans do not either.

I don't know what a soul is, but if we have one l am not so sure animals don't have one too. I know other mammals have emotions. I have seen it, and l have heard it.

Like I keep saying, everything is made of energy, time and space are an illusion, and and since energy can't be created or destroyed the animals have always existed, and will always exist, in some energy form, so in that sense, everything has a "soul."

Furthermore, studies of 2-6 year old children who remember past lives often remembered being animals, trees, and even ghosts inbetween reincarnations, giving details that were verified.

The real question is whether or not souls/spirits exist. Do they physically exist and can we discover them or have we misinterpreted what souls are?

The way you are defining a soul, yes. So do plants and AI, as the energy is electrical in nature for animals and plants.
But the way I would interpret the meaning of soul, without intentional religious application, is a conscience. Which I like because then, in my mind, it frees society to execute violent sociopaths, since they act without one.

I don't think anything has a "soul." And, by this, I mean something that exists separate from the physical body and the workings of the brain. However, this does not mean that animals do not experience a range of what we call emotions. We, after all, are also animals. We have simply reached a level of evolution that allows us to use words to convey what we are feeling. To say animals do not also have "feelings" is human arrogance, in my opinion.

As much as any other living thing. Animals feel, think, hurt, love and all the other things we call alive. Anyone who's ever been hurting but had a dog come up and just press up against you because he or she could sense your distress knows this. If a soul is a real thing, then yes, animals have them. It's only a human conceit to believe otherwise, an exercise in ego that's truly ridiculous.

If anyone has one everyone has one.

As farm as I'm concerned it's a non starter. Are you assuming humans do?

No more than humans do.

If you consider how smart certain animals are, like Chimpanzees, Parrots, Ravens and Squirrels, then it’s hard to rule out some form of consciousness and perhaps limited thought.

But the Buddha taught that we have no soul, and so animals wouldn’t either. Instead we are all part of the interdependent universe, made of recycled stardust.

If by soul you mean consciousness​, or the ability to experience internal subjective phenomena with some kind of inner mind, then there is no way to tell. I would say it's likely they do not have the capactiy to experience the same such states as humans.

I voted yes because animals are sentient beings
They are able to choose and they make choices
They have intelligence
They morals and ethics are at a much higher standards than some human beings
They don't enjoy inflicting pain to others

I don't know.

In order for a "soul " to survive the body it must have energy and / or mass , try telling that to a christian and watch the eyes glaze over then the anger shows up -- do it sometime

Sure, just play Dark Souls or Demon's Souls...

I think that the "soul" is social construction. No animal creates social meanings anywhere near the level needed to create a "soul".

A better word might be spirit. Spirit as a dynamic whole, the affirmation of all we have derived, learnt, remembered, shared. Its dynamism works in our life in concert with others...this is its affirmative effect I think. Spirit's construction starts on day 1 and never ends until we end. I don't think that Spirit, as a 'thing' is possible to demonstrate because it is constantly changing, only partial view points are possible.

Not voting because making those kind of general statements feels like above my paygrade.

My answer was no, but than as much as we doand no less.