facility:zoo animals

PATIENT: Action, harbor seal.
AFFLICTION: unease over medical exams and treatments.
Credit Robin Schwartz for The New York Times

“An animal in the wild can’t afford to be depressed,” Pepperberg [a comparative psychologist at Harvard who is known for her work with African gray parrots] said. “It will simply be killed or starve, since its environment requires constant vigilance. The situation kind of reminds me of my Jewish grandparents, whose lives were a lot harder than mine. They never seemed depressed, because I don’t think it ever occurred to them.”