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.'Feel.This area has under-floor heating.It magnifies the smell.'Jon pressed a knuckle against pleasantly warm concrete.'You're welcome to come inside but please keep to the back wall,' Hobson instructed.Jon did as he was asked.Examining the gloomy space beyond the wire, he realised he was looking into the dens he'd just seen on the CCTV screen.On each side of him were two more thick wire doors reinforced with metal struts.Beyond them were the main enclosures themselves.A row of windows stretched round the perimeter and Jon could see dozens of people looking through.Hobson stepped in and clanged two metal pails together, which brought immediate movement from the right-hand den.A moment later a dark shadow moved up to the wire and Jon found himself looking at a pair of golden eyes.The animal, barely arm's distance away, regarded Jon for a second.He looked for any emotion, but the stare seemed neutral, bored almost.'Ah, Samburu's in I see,' said Hobson.'Hello big fella.' He placed the pails on the floor and moved to one end of the concrete strip.'Don't be fooled by appearances.Docile but deadly is what I tell every assistant.He looks like he'd be nice to stroke but, give him half a chance, he'll have your hand off.First you'd know about it was when you realised your arm ended at your wrist.That's why I said keep to the back wall.Going too near only provokes him into making a lunge – and I don't want him snapping a tooth off on the wire mesh.'Jon felt an uneasy thrill of excitement.Just a sheet of wire separated him from a creature that would kill him without any hesitation at all.Hobson had grasped a metal handle connected to a wire that ran up the wall and into the den.Another wire stretched from a large counterweight.As the counterweight lowered, the handle in Hobson's hand rose until he could secure it on a hook embedded in the wall.'I've just lowered the trapdoor to his den.That keeps him inside while I put his food out.Now, where's Mweru and Mara?'He picked up a bucket and ran it down the door leading into the other enclosure.Two panthers of almost equal size appeared from a thicket of bamboo.Lazily, they padded across the sandy floor and disappeared round to the front of their den.Next thing two more sets of yellow eyes shone behind the wire.Hobson stepped gingerly past Samburu's side and lowered the trap door to the neighbouring den.'Right, all in.' He stood in front of the gate leading into the mother and cub's enclosure, then took his keys out once again.Fixed to a metal plate in the centre of the enclosure was a building site sign with a graphic of a head in a hard hat and a raised hand.Danger: Keep Out.Hobson glanced up at a mirror high on the wall that let him see into the den.'Check and double check,' he whispered, more to himself than Jon.Then he unlocked the gate's padlock, slid back two large bolts and shouldered it open.Next he picked up two of the buckets and walked out into the enclosure itself.Jon saw the spectator's faces begin to turn.Fingers started to point.Mweru and Mara paced back and forth across a patch of light, tips of their long tails twitching.Samburu was nowhere to be seen.Hobson walked confidently over to a pole of wood and wedged a chunk of meat into the V at its top.You love this, don't you, Jon thought, beginning a quick tally of people watching.He gave up at the third window, having counted forty-eight faces.His eyes returned to Hobson as he proceeded round, hiding bits of meat on various branches and ledges of rock.Two minutes later he returned to the side gate, both buckets empty, face slightly flushed.He relocked the side gate then reached for the handle controlling the counterweight.'OK ladies, give them a good show.'The metal trapdoor scraped up and the two cats appeared in the open.Mweru made a beeline for the wooden pole.Rearing up on her hind legs, she sniffed the meat then, almost reluctantly, grabbed it in her jaws.Hobson chuckled.'Beef.They hate it.Chicken every day would be their choice.Right, now for Samburu.'He lobbed the empty pails out on the grass, picked up the third one, then approached the side gate to Samburu's enclosure.The same procedure was repeated and Hobson strode out like a gladiator entering the ring.Jon glanced at the handle to the counterweight.You'd soon lose that swagger if I unhooked that counterweight, he thought, looking at the den before him.In its corner was a metal door with a small viewing window.'You're hiding behind that aren't you?' whispered Jon, stepping up to the narrow opening and peering through
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