I’ll admit that this article has been fueled by this season of "Game of Thrones." Yes, I’m an avid fan of both the books and the series, but I am not a fan of the countless number of gory scenes involving the death of some sort of animal—namely, the Stark Direwolves.

For anyone who is not caught up with the show, be warned, there are spoilers ahead.

I’m an animal lover, that much is clear. Any film that portrays the death of an animal character is automatically a tearjerker for me (and by tear I mean flood), thus deemed taboo and unnecessary. Ever since I was a small child, films, books and pictures have been able to incapacitate me by tears—ugly crying, blubbering and all that other good stuff.

Here are some of the films that I’m sure a lot of you who are reading this will know and share my sentiments:

1. "The Lion King"

Don’t even pretend you didn’t shed tears whenever Mufasa’s death scene was drawing near. I think this is the most heart-wrenching scene in Disney history. It’s also unspeakable. Damn you, Scar!

2. "Bambi"

Bambi’s mother’s death scene is tragic. Similar to "The Lion King," but the only thing that makes matters worse is that she was killed by a hunter. Oh, great. Now her death is on human hands.

3. "Finding Nemo"

A lot of people tend not to remember this scene, maybe because it’s so early on in the movie. The death of not only Marlin’s wife, but also the death of their unborn children as she tried to fend off an aggressive barracuda was enough to almost make me back out of the movie and never watch the rest of it.

4. "The Never-ending Story"

This movie holds the biggest space in my heart as my absolute favorite movie from my childhood. I still get giddy whenever I watch it and I’m now an adult. The one scene that I still cannot watch to this day is the death of Artax, Atreyu’s faithful horse. I can feel the tears building now (I’m not crying, you’re crying).

5. "Marley & Me"

I’ll admit, I didn’t watch this movie after a cousin of mine spoiled it for me with the knowledge that Marley dies. I mean, I should’ve seen it coming just from the title, but I’m painfully submerged in denial and I’ll own the hell out of that fact.

6. "Where the Red Fern Grows"

I cried when I read the book, but thankfully I was in the comfort zone of my room with only the walls to judge me. When I watched the movie, I was sitting in my fourth-grade homeroom class. I cried like a baby and had to be sent to the nurse’s office because of how upset I was.

7. "I Am Legend"

C’mon! Post-apocalyptic survival tale of a man living in New York City with no company but some mannequins and his dog, Sam? I smelled something fishy as soon as the opening credits rolled. Although I had the near entirety of the movie to prepare myself for Sam’s death, but that didn’t stop me from bawling when Robert is forced to end his buddy’s suffering.

So the scenes I’ve listed above hold the titles of the most notorious death scenes in Hollywood. My question is, why do animal cruelty and the portrayal of animal death seem to be a prominent trend in Hollywood?

With the airing of "Game of Thrones" episode “Hold the Door,” one of my favorite characters dies, and I don’t mean Hodor, although he did hold a soft spot in my heart. I’m talking about the death of Summer, Bran’s Direwolf. The scene is a heroic one: Summer stays back to give her owner and his companions (or what’s left of them) time to escape the horde of white walker zombies, and charges into a throng of them, maybe taking down a dozen before she is shown being butchered. I screamed louder than I did when I witnessed the Red Wedding and immediately began crying. But through my watery vision, I continued to watch, horrified.

After then ending of the episode, I spent 20 minutes ranting to my best friend via FaceTime through angry tears and partially incoherent speech. I was pissed. Here’s why:

In season one of the famed "Game of Thrones," from the very first episode the viewers, are introduced to a number of important characters—the most important, to me at least, being the Stark Direwolves. They are only squeaking pups during their debut, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with every single one of them on sight.

In this season alone, we lose two of the six Direwolves. One of them is needlessly killed and the other is sent away by its owner in order to save its life. At this point, I’m already on edge and teetering on the threshold between losing my temper and losing my sanity.

In season two, we lose another Direwolf in the Red Wedding, Grey Wind. Thankfully, after this awful and evil scene, another Direwolf is not harmed until the most recent season, although we did lose sight of my second favorite, Ghost, who disappeared in the North for a while (I guess that’s what ghosts do, right?).

My main problem with all this is that the death of the Direwolves isn't essential to the advancement of the show’s plot. When Cersei orders Lady to be killed as punishment for the Stark girls, it’s part of Cersei’s evil character. I’ll be thankful that Lady’s death is quick and done by someone who cared for her. The death of Grey Wind is understandable, seeing as his owner was just killed, but I do not agree with the mindless cruelty of the method of his killing. His head was cut off and sewn to the headless body of his owner and paraded around like a spectacle. It was too much.

Fast forward to season six, we haven’t seen or heard from Rickon and his Direwolf, Shaggy Dog since they separated from Bran in season three, but he has returned under dangerous circumstances, no less. Rickon is caught by the Karstarks, former banner men to the Stark family, and given to Ramsay Snow as a gift to show their loyalty. In order to prove that the eleven-year-old boy is truly Rickon Stark, the severed head of his Direwolf is presented as evidence. I was upset that this was the first sight of Shaggy Dog after three years of no word or sight of him. Then finally, Bran’s Direwolf, Summer. Many angry thoughts and hot tears have been used when thinking about her death. A part of me wonders whether "Game of Thrones" creator George R.R. Martin purposely killed Summer in order to prove that winter had finally arrived. If so, I applaud him because it was magnificently set up, but my only question is, why did he have to name the wolf Summer? Couldn’t he have named some other character as such? I’m not as affected when human characters die.

This article is more of a rant than anything—a way to release the steam that been building in my ears for years and years of witnessing the deaths of animals in great movies. Funny thing is, the AHA (American Humane Association) message at the end of every movie or show never makes me feel better. You know the one, “No animals were harmed in the making of this blah, blah, blah.” It still doesn’t bring my beloved Direwolves back.

At this point in time, with only two of the six Direwolves alive (one being gone since the first season), I’m ready to start a petition to put Ghost, Jon Snow’s Direwolf, in an impenetrable bubble to keep him safe. If you agree, let me know, we could start something up.