When asked about his fascination with the animal by [Dick] Cavett, the artist describes anteaters as “angelic.” A master of PR, Dalí knew well by this stage in his career the marketability of his eccentricities but even so, his longstanding affinity to anteaters does seem earnest, and certainly well-documented.
Photo: Salvador Dalí walking a giant anteater in Paris, 1969.
Some people have definitely ruined it for the rest of us. The stories I hear from rehabbers of what they used to be able to do in the 80s and earlier look rather crazy now in a regulated world. They were at least doing things for the good of the animals, and the why for not being able to do those things anymore is much more about human safety, but alas, some will always use opportunities to do ignorant and careless things.