Lulu Bell and the Tiger Cub

by Belinda Murrell

  About the Book

  Meet Lulu Bell. Where there’s Lulu, there’s family, friends, animals and adventures galore!

  Year Three are going on an excursion to the zoo. Luckily the zoo vet is one of Dad’s best friends, so Lulu and Molly and their friends get special treatment!

  When a tiger cub gets into trouble and hurts its leg, the zookeepers take it to the hospital for treatment. The zoo vet sets to work with Lulu and Molly looking on. Will the tiger cub be okay?

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: Zoo Excursion

  Chapter 2: Meerkats

  Chapter 3: The Vet Hospital

  Chapter 4: Berani

  Chapter 5: The Operation

  Chapter 6: Missing Monkey

  Chapter 7: Picnic Feast

  Chapter 8: Return to the Zoo

  Lulu’s Zoo Treasure Hunt Trivia

  Lulu Bell and the Pyjama Party

  Read all the Lulu Bell books

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Copyright Notice

  Loved the book?

  To all the wonderful teachers who have inspired my kids over the years – thank you!

  Chapter 1

  Zoo Excursion

  Lulu hopped from foot to foot to keep warm. Her backpack bumped up and down on her back. Overhead the sky was heavy with dark grey clouds.

  It was Wednesday morning and everyone was at school super-early. Lulu felt a bubble of excitement in her tummy. Today was the day of the big zoo adventure.

  All the year three students from Shelly Beach School were going on the excursion. It was extra special for Lulu because the zoo vet, Dr Bradley, was one of her dad’s best friends. Dr Bradley had promised to give Lulu and her friends a special tour.

  The kids were gathered in the playground. They were wearing casual clothes instead of their school uniforms. Lulu was rugged up in her scarf and jacket and a woolly cap. Her best friend Molly had her hands buried deep in her pockets to keep warm. Lauren skipped over, carrying her backpack in one hand.

  ‘Brrrr,’ said Lulu. ‘It’s freezing. I hope the bus comes soon.’

  The teachers, Miss Baxter and Miss Donaldson, were organising the children into lines.

  ‘Come on, 3B,’ called Miss Baxter. ‘It’s time to get your names marked off the roll.’

  Mum was standing to one side and chatting to the other parents. She had volunteered to help on the excursion. Dad would take Lulu’s younger sister Rosie to school later. Her three-year-old brother Gus was spending the day with friends.

  ‘Fingers crossed I’m in your group, Lulu,’ said Molly. ‘It will be so much fun.’

  Lulu nodded, her eyes shining.

  ‘Dad spoke to Dr Bradley last night,’ said Lulu. ‘She said our group can come and visit her at the zoo’s vet hospital. We might even get to watch an operation.’

  Miss Donaldson smiled at them. ‘It sounds like your group is going to have some very special treatment, Lulu. I wish I could come with you.’

  At last the big blue bus pulled up at the front gate.

  ‘Yippety-do,’ cried Lulu.

  All the kids piled on the bus and stowed their backpacks under their seats. Lulu, Molly and Lauren sat together. Mum sat beside the other parents. With a rumbling roar, the bus pulled out.

  ‘We’re off,’ said Lauren. ‘I can’t wait to get to the zoo.’

  ‘I wonder what animals we’ll see today?’ asked Molly. ‘I hope we see lots of elephants and meerkats.’

  ‘I’d like to see the wombats and the tigers,’ said Lulu. ‘And the monkeys. They always make me laugh.’

  The boy sitting behind Lulu began to make ‘oooh-oooh-ahhh-ahhh’ noises. He jumped up and down on his seat, scratching his head with one hand, and under his arm with the other.

  Lulu, Lauren and Molly turned around and giggled.

  ‘Max, you make a perfect monkey,’ said Lulu.

  Max gave a cheeky grin. ‘Just call me king of the jungle!’

  His friend Daniel chuckled. ‘The king of the jungle is the lion. You’re more like the jungle joker, Max.’

  Max ruffled Daniel’s hair, knocking off his cap.

  The bus ride took half an hour. The excited kids talked, laughed and joked. The noise was deafening. At last, the bus pulled up at the zoo entrance. The kids piled off.

  The teachers divided the year into eight groups of five. Each group was led by a parent or teacher. Lulu went to stand beside Mum. Miss Baxter called out the names of the other children in their group: Molly, Lauren, Max and Daniel.

  ‘Yay,’ cried Molly. ‘We’re together.’ She linked one arm through Lulu’s and the other through Lauren’s. Max and Daniel gave each other a high five.

  Mum smiled at them. ‘Looks like I have a fantastic group.’

  Mum had her big camera slung around her neck. A clipboard with the zoo map and the plan for the day was tucked under her arm.

  Miss Donaldson gave them their instructions. ‘Each group will explore the zoo on their own,’ she said. ‘Please make sure you stay with the adult in charge. We don’t want anyone to get lost.’

  Miss Baxter waved a sheaf of papers. ‘And here are your treasure hunt sheets. Let’s see which group can answer the most questions.’

  The sheets had a list of trivia questions about different kinds of animals. Which were the biggest, tallest, sleepiest and most popular animals in the zoo?

  Molly took the group’s sheet and began to read.

  ‘Which do you think is the most popular animal in the zoo?’ asked Molly. ‘Maybe the koalas?’

  Max shook his head. ‘The goofy, gangly giraffes.’ He put his arms up high, making himself tall and lanky.

  ‘No, the zany zebras,’ added Daniel. He wiggled his eyebrows. ‘Or perhaps the loony lions.’

  Lulu thought about it. ‘I can’t decide,’ she said. ‘I love them all.’

  Miss Donaldson pointed to a green area on the map. ‘We’ll meet at the park at one o’clock for a picnic.’ She checked to make sure everyone was listening. Then with a big grin, she shooed them away. ‘Off you go, year three. Have lots of fun!’

  The groups set off in various directions. Mum had already studied the map and planned a route.

  ‘We’ll go down this path,’ said Mum. ‘We’re meeting Dr Bradley at the vet hospital at ten o’clock. We have time to see some of the animals along the way.’

  Lulu threw one of her honey-coloured plaits over her shoulder. ‘Come on, everyone,’ she called. ‘Let’s explore.’

  Chapter 2

  Meerkats

  The five children hurtled down the path. Mum followed close behind.

  Lulu and Molly looked over the treasure hunt sheet. Molly read out the first question. ‘Which is the largest land mammal in the world?’

  ‘Easy,’ said Max. ‘That would be the enormous elephant.’

  Lauren looked over Molly’s shoulder as she wrote down the answer.

  ‘The next one is much harder. Which animal can eat scorpions because it’s immune to venom?’ asked Lauren.

  Lulu frowned. ‘Scorpions are highly venomous,’ she said. ‘I don’t think any animal would want to eat them.’

  ‘We’ll have to keep a good eye out,’ said Molly.

  Ahead and to the left was a low wall. It was painted a dull sand colour. The kids ran to peer over it.

  ‘A mob of meerkats!’ cried Lauren.

  Inside the enclosure was a large family of about twenty meerkats. They were small grey animals with brownish bands on their fur. They had dark patches around their eyes.

  ‘I love wat
ching the meerkats,’ said Molly. ‘They almost look like they could talk to us.’

  One of the meerkats sat on top of a hillock to keep watch. He made a soft peeping noise. The rest of the family was gathered in the sand. Some were grooming each other. Others were feeding or resting. A couple of youngsters chased each other around the enclosure, tumbling and turning. Mum took photos.

  Max and Daniel looked at the sign.

  ‘Meerkats live in the deserts of southern Africa,’ Daniel read aloud.

  Max pointed to three meerkats who were sitting up on their hind legs. They looked as if they were sunbaking.

  ‘Hey, the dark patches around their eyes act like natural sunglasses,’ read Max. ‘How cool is that?’

  ‘They look like film stars posing on the red carpet,’ joked Lauren.

  Everyone laughed.

  Lulu read the sign quickly.

  ‘Found it!’ she cried. Lulu pointed to the last paragraph. ‘Meerkats can eat scorpions as they are immune to their venom. They also have a high immunity to snake venom.’

  ‘Ugh,’ said Molly. She shuddered. ‘That’s disgusting.’

  Lauren took the clipboard and wrote the answer on the treasure hunt sheet.

  Max and Daniel ran zigzagging down the path.

  ‘Come on, girls,’ said Mum. She folded up the map. ‘Let’s keep going.’

  The boys had stopped outside a big enclosure. It was protected by a tall glass wall. Inside was a mini rainforest with bamboo groves, trees, fallen logs and long, thick grass. To the left was a green pond. The children pressed against the glass.

  ‘What lives in here?’ asked Lauren.

  ‘Terrifying tigers,’ said Max. He roared and pounced on Daniel for a wrestle.

  ‘The Sumatran tigers,’ said Molly, reading the sign. ‘The smallest tigers in the world.’

  ‘There’s a mother with three cubs,’ added Lulu. ‘Two girls and a boy. The male tiger lives next door.’

  ‘Where are they?’ asked Daniel.

  The children looked around the enclosure carefully. There was no sign of any animals. Lulu felt disappointed. She badly wanted to see the tiger cubs.

  ‘There,’ said Max.

  A pair of tawny eyes peered from the shadows. The female tiger stalked out of the undergrowth and into the open. She was dark orange, with thick black stripes and smaller patches of white. The tiger looked around, her long white whiskers twitching.

  ‘And here are the cubs,’ whispered Lulu.

  Three roly-poly cubs tumbled out of the shadows. They pounced and rolled, ears over tail. They wrestled and played like oversized kittens. They tussled on the side of the pond, then chased each other through the water, splashing and bounding.

  ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ asked Lauren.

  The mother tiger wandered towards the front of the enclosure, where the five children huddled together. She flopped down in a patch of sun, her back pressed against the glass. Molly jumped away in fright.

  Max pressed his palms against the glass. His eyes shone with excitement. ‘She’s so close I feel like I could pat her.’

  The children kept watching the tigers. The male cub was bigger and bolder than the other two. He scrambled up on a fallen log then jumped off, bowling his sister over. Using his claws, he clambered up a tree trunk, before dropping clumsily to the ground.

  The cub hid in the grass and pounced on his mother’s tail, as if it were a snake. His mother batted him away with her paw. Then she held him down and licked him with her long, raspy tongue.

  The cub wriggled away. His sisters chased him and tripped him over, starting another round of mock-fighting.

  Their audience laughed with delight.

  ‘I wish I could get right inside the enclosure,’ said Lulu. ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to cuddle those cubs?’

  ‘They’re adorable,’ said Mum. ‘But I think the mother tiger would have something to say about you cuddling her babies.’

  ‘Grrrr. She’d eat you all up,’ joked Max.

  Chapter 3

  The Vet Hospital

  The group moved on to watch lots of other animals – lions, Asian elephants, giraffes and pandas. They managed to find the answers to several more treasure hunt questions.

  ‘Which is the tallest animal that lives on land?’ asked Molly.

  ‘A gigantic giraffe,’ said Max. ‘The sign said an adult giraffe can be six metres tall – that’s nearly the height of a two-storey building.’

  ‘What do pandas eat?’ asked Daniel, as they reached the cuddly black-and-white animals.

  ‘Bamboo makes up ninety-nine per cent of their diet,’ answered Lauren.

  Mum checked her watch. ‘It’s nearly ten o’clock. Time to head to the vet hospital.’ She pointed towards a narrow path that was nearly hidden by trees. ‘This way.’

  ‘I’ve never noticed this path before,’ said Lauren.

  In the western corner of the zoo was a big modern building surrounded by trees. This was the vet hospital. Mum pressed the buzzer by the door.

  A young nurse in a green uniform answered. A bulging pouch hung at her waist, held on by a wide shoulder strap.

  ‘Hi,’ said Mum. ‘I’m Chrissie Bell. This is my daughter Lulu, and her friends from Shelly Beach School. We’re here to see Dr Bradley.’

  ‘Come in. I’m Rachael. I work with Dr Bradley.’ Rachael opened the door wide and waved them in.

  Lulu stared at the bag at Rachael’s waist. It was squirming. A tiny orange head emerged and then disappeared again.

  Rachael grinned, stroking the bag. ‘And this is Linh. She is a baby François’ leaf monkey and she loves cuddles.’

  The baby stuck its head out of the pouch and stared at the children with big black eyes. Her name was spelled on the side of her bag.

  ‘Linh is a Vietnamese name,’ said Molly. ‘It means gentle spirit.’

  ‘That’s pretty,’ said Lulu.

  ‘François’ leaf monkeys come from north-eastern Vietnam and southern China,’ said Rachael. She stroked Linh on her furry, orange head. ‘They are one of the rarest types of monkeys in the world.’

  ‘Why are they called leaf monkeys?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Because they eat leaves?’ suggested Max.

  Rachael smiled. ‘Exactly right. Linh was born here in the zoo,’ she explained. ‘But her mother didn’t have enough milk for her, so we are rearing her in the nursery. We’ve been taking turns to sleep at the vet hospital so we can feed her during the night.’

  Lulu felt worried for Linh. ‘Doesn’t she miss her mother?’

  Rachael nodded. ‘I carry her around so she doesn’t get lonely. François’ leaf monkeys are endangered in the wild. We need to make sure Linh has a healthy start in life. We are slowly introducing her back to her family.’

  The group followed Rachael down the corridor. The vet hospital was light and clean with lots of large viewing windows. First of all, Rachael led them to a locker room. She showed everyone where to put their backpacks.

  Rachael led them into the hospital itself.

  The zoo vet hospital was bigger than the Shelly Beach Vet hospital at Lulu’s house. There was no waiting room. The operating theatre was much larger. But the main difference was the animals in the wards. Instead of cats and dogs and rabbits, there were amazing creatures from all over the world.

  One room held injured birds, from owls and macaws to kookaburras and flamingos. Another room held glass boxes for the sick reptiles. There were snakes, lizards, turtles and water dragons.

  Rachael led the way into another hospital ward. In one corner was a large pen. Inside it, a wombat was asleep on a red beanbag. He was curled up with a teddy bear.

  At the sound of the humans coming in, he jumped to his feet. Lulu realised he only had three legs.

  ‘Harry lost his leg in a car accident,’ explained Rachael. ‘He can’t go back to the wild, but he seems very happy toddling around now. Soon we’ll move him out with the other wombats.’

  H
arry saw Rachael. He ran to the edge of the pen with a lolloping gait. He snuffled and sniffed through the bars.

  ‘He runs awfully fast for a creature with only three legs,’ said Max.

  ‘That’s because he thinks we’re here to give him breakfast,’ said Rachael. ‘He’s very greedy.’

  Rachael fetched a container of chopped carrots from the fridge. ‘Would you like to feed him?’

  Of course, everyone wanted to. Each of the children took a turn to feed Harry through the bars. Harry butted the gate, demanding more food. He made friendly grunts as he crunched and chomped his way through the carrots. Mum took photos of all the kids with Harry.

  ‘I wish we could take him home,’ said Lulu, as Harry tried to nibble her fingers. Lulu looked at her mum with a winning smile. ‘He’s gorgeous.’

  ‘No way,’ said Mum. She threw her hands up in horror. ‘Wombats will dig through anything. And just look at the terrible mess he’s made eating breakfast.’

  There were chunks of carrot all over the floor.

  ‘Never mind,’ said Rachael. ‘I’ll clean it up in a moment. Let’s just put Linh away, and then I’ll take you to see Dr Bradley.’

  Rachael put Linh in a large, warm cage. It was filled with toys. A bunch of tender leaves hung from the roof. Linh began to play with a bright orange ball.

  Rachael carefully closed the cage and slid the bolt across.

  The group followed Rachael into one of the treatment rooms. Dr Bradley was there, tending to a snake. The vet’s long red hair was tied up in a ponytail.

  She wore a pale blue shirt over khaki pants.

  Dr Bradley smiled and said hello. She gave Lulu and her mum a hug. ‘Welcome to our hospital.’