Whilst visiting Mrs M's Earthly Paradise earlier this month, we went to the Schloss Adler (not that one), had a 1970s lunch and saw some grey wolves. These fine, though pitiable, creatures were fenced in around the castle and were fed for our entertainment. As soon as a crowd gathered the wolves came down through the woods from the edge of the castle. They milled about and waited. When the bloke with the food arrived (offal, meat, shit and lord knows what else), they hardly moved. Even when he started to speak inside their pen, they remained where they were. It was only when he was about to end his over-long discourse on wolf culture that they moved, coming down onto the flat area in front of the fence. Clearly they had heard it all before and knew full well when it would end, as shortly afterwards it did. When their meal was dumped they pounced. Feeding was over in a flash and they trotted off again.
I wrote pitiable above and so they were (along with the caged owls, hawks, vultures and so on). And yet they had more of a cared-for air than many a free-born person living rough on the Bath's streets, and surely their health care was better than many millions of people in the United States (and many other countries). Though I have been (rather bizarrely) complimented on my German pronunciation, my poor language skills couldn't cope with the 15 minute talk and so I don't know if this is what the food-man was commenting on. Probably not ...
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