It’s happened to all of us. You get up from your seat on a bus, or train, or Southwest Airlines to use the lavatory or ask somebody behind you not to cram their carry-on bag into the same space already occupied by your souvenir sombrero, and when you return another passenger is sitting where you were. Or worse, when you start back you realize you have no idea where your seat is.
That’s when wild animals can help.
The example shown here is of a leopard, spotted on a train between Marseille and Barcelona. But any wild animal will do as long as they have a tail that will allow them to hang down from overhead. That way they are plainly visible no matter how far you wander, and they make it clear to anyone who thinks of occupying your seat while you are gone that there will be consequences.
As successful as wild animals have proven as place savers, even being known to keep celebrities at bay, be aware that there are times when they do not work. One example is if the animal is seen as symbolic of man’s inhumanity to man, such as an elephant or wild donkey during U.S. political campaigns, when you may return from looking for an in-flight magazine that doesn’t already have the cross-word puzzle filled in to find your guardian hanging from the end opposite its tail. Or you may return to discover that a five year old you don’t recognize insists on sitting in your lap.
In those few instances, the best alternative is to hang a stalk of wild asparagus.
