The wolf pack has been waiting six to eight weeks for approval on the new territory boundary. The form was submitted in triplicate – one copy to the Northern Woodland Authority, one to the Deer Corridor Management Board, one retained for pack records. Howling Reference Number: 7741-B.
The ravens, of course, have no such problem. Ravens understood long ago that the best bureaucracy is one you run yourself. They approve their own flight paths, their own feeding permits, their own nest registrations. Other species find this suspicious. The ravens find this amusing.
The bees have the most sophisticated system. Every decision passes through forty-seven committees before reaching the queen, who is constitutionally required to accept all committee recommendations except in cases of existential hive threat, which must first be classified as existential by a panel of nine senior foragers.
The classification panel last convened in 2019. They are still deliberating.
Meanwhile, the humans fill in forms to build a car park where the meadow used to be. The bees watch this with a sense of professional recognition.
There is, they note, no appeal process.
