“VILLA OF THE WOLVES”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 197, 20 August 1929, Page 11

“VILLA OF THE WOLVES”

ENGLISHWOMAN’S HOBBY. In a villa outside Florence are 25 wolfhounds and one real wolf, which are alleged to have been abandoned there by an Englishwoman, wrote the Rome correspondent of the Daily Telegraph recently. Some months ago the house, which has achieved local fame as the 4 ‘Villa of the Wolves,” was rented by an English family—husband, wife and child. No sooner were they installed than the woman began to indulge a passion for wolfhounds or wolves, and brought a number of animals to the villa. Others were imported from England, and finally two fine specimens of the Russian wolf were added to the collection. At one time there were as many as 35 dogs in the villa, besides the wolves.

This strange menage created a legend of immense wealth. The animals were fed on the very best meat, and often their mistress would take half-a-dozen of them in a motor-car to Florence, where she would draw up outside a confectioner’s shop, and feed them with danties.

One day the woman and child left the villa. They were followed shortly afterwards by the husband, the servants remaining in charge, and having particular instructions to look after the animals. As only a few pounds were received for this purpose, however, and as nothing more was heard of the English couple, the servants were obliged to discontinue the lavish style of feeding the animals. It was then discovered that a number of ac-’ counts had been left unpaid, and tradesmen who had supplied the canine menus claimed sums totalling nearly £lOOO. To meet these debts the villa and all its contents were sequestrated for the creditors, but the presence of the dogs and wolves complicated the problem.

The creditors did not want the dogs and were not prepared to feed them. The dogs could not be legally taken away by anyone who might be willing to look offer them. Above all, they demanded imperatively to be fed, setting up a howling that could be heard all over the neighbourhood. <To satisfy the insistent claims of the dogs and the wolves, and of the creditors, arrangements are being made for an immediate auction, the beasts in the meantime being cared for by the Florence Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.