You open the door marked, "Shapeshifters". You enter a darkened room, not unlike the housing for bats in the metropolitan zoos. The lights are on, but are quite dimmed, adding to the spooky ambience.
"Hello?" you say, feeling eyes upon you, but seeing noone. A thump to your left makes you jump, and you turn to face a plexiglass window, and see a man peering out at you. You stare back, slightly puzzled, wondering why he is behind the glass. You realize he's supposed to be a werewolf, but it seems quite silly to keep him behind glass. He's an altogether unmenacing being, now that you've taken a good look at him. He's around five feet ten inches, and about one hundred eighty pounds, dressed in a tshirt and shorts. He appears to be about forty. You shake your head slightly, laughing at the ridiculous setup. They even have him in a natural forestlike setting.
The door opens behind you, and a young woman, dressed in a zoo uniform walks in. "Oh, my,"she says," I'm sorry I'm late. I hope you haven't been waiting long. My name's Joy, and I'll be your guide tonight."
"I get my own guide?" you ask, happy she's yours. She barely stands five feet tall, an incredibly petite girl, no older than twenty. She has medium length blonde hair, pulled back into a pony tail.
"Yes, sir. We give all our VIP's special courtesy. Also, with the cryptozoology exhibits, a lot of our guests benefit more, as we can explain in depth the facts behind the various exhibits." She had a cheery, yet businesslike tone, as though she was reading from a script.
"Do you mind telling me what's so special about this guy?" You ask, really wondering if he could be a werewolf.
"Oh, absolutely. This first exhibit is one of our oldest in the cryptozoology wing. His name is Tom, and he's a feral lycanthrope of the lupine subspecies."
"Yeah, Joy...he looks real feral in a tshirt and shorts," you say sarcastically.
"Well, sir," Joy begins with a tone of irritation,"he's known as a feral because of the strain of lycanthropy he's contracted. Feral werewolves normally are bitten by wolves who carry a slightly mutated form of the disease. He wasn't bitten by a true werewolf. It's an offshoot that we don't know a whole lot about. Though he's comfortable enough in clothes, he avoids buildings and such, preferring to live in the woods. These sorts of werewolves are thought to have originated in eastern Europe. It's worth noting that this particular subspecies is growing more and more rare, due to both the urban sprawl prevalent in most of the world, and due to interbreeding with the domestic werewolves, also now known as the English Werewolf."
You nod knowingly, "And he's kept in here, out of the moonlight for the safety of guests, I take it?"
"No sir, that's what the glass is for. And feral werewolves don't need the moon to change. Were he to escape, he could change almost at will." She seems pointedly irritated at you,"Let me guess; you're not going to believe it until you see him change, are you?"