Your story reminds me of author Gerald Durrell, who wrote many books about his interactions with animals (my favorite was ‘My Family & Other Animals’). He collected specimens for zoos. On one trip to South America he’d almost finished collecting when funding was lost & he couldn’t bring the animals back. He opened the cages, expecting them all to flee for their lives. Instead, the animals just sat there. They’d all gotten used to free meals & had no intention of giving them up!