The first time I remember seeing zoochosis was with a baby elephant. I was at an elephant rescue sanctuary in Thailand, with my wife and daughters for ‘A day with the elephants experience’. We arrived and were waiting to meet our guides. About 20 meters in front of us there was a small elephant with one leg tied with rope to a post in the ground. This baby elephant was sort of marching on the spot. It took one step forward then one back in a rocking motion that almost looked like an Instagram boomeranm – a short video being played forward and backwards over and over again. It was novel at first but five minutes in, it seemed sadly hypnotic and unsettling.
‘Zoochosis is a psychological condition in captive animals characterized by repetitive, often self-destructive behaviours like pacing, swaying, or over-grooming, caused by the stress of captivity. These behaviors are not typically seen in wild animals and indicate significant emotional distress.’ (AI search definition)
Recently I saw a video clip where a woman was questioning if we were not at a point where we are dealing with human zoochosis? I don’t even think I watched the video to the end, I was just doom scrolling as a 30 minute mental break after work, and it was a video that came and went.
A couple days later this hit me as something very relevant. I saw another video of an American in his car. He was talking about doing food delivery as his second job, wife and baby at home, and how just to make ends meet he was working 14 to 18 hours every day. He said he didn’t know how long he could sustain this, and how hard it was to only see his wife and baby late at night before being the first one up to get to his other job. He wasn’t asking for help, he was questioning life, purpose, and meaning behind doing nothing but working just to barely exist. I realized he was describing what it’s like to be a ‘captive animal characterized by repetitive, often self-destructive behaviours’.
Captive in a system not designed for humans. Stuck in a cycle of living to work, not working to live. Trapped in survival mode and unable to think beyond subsistence and making ends meet. No time for joy, no hope, no sense of purpose or meaning. No place for a human to feel like they belong and can thrive.
I’m reminded of a video of a mouse seeking happiness in a world where he is in both a literal and metaphorical ‘rat race’, seeking happiness, which is either short lived, or out of reach. It is a social commentary about this exact issue. How many people are lost in this race to nowhere? Lost in the stress of captivity, knowing that they cannot escape? Animals, trapped and psychologically damaged, without the resources or means to escape human zoochosis.
