by Amelia Cobb
“Look! Look!” Meep cried, pointing to a set of paw prints on the ground.
Zoe let out a cheer. “Well done, Meep!” She let herself back out of the penguin enclosure and followed the paw prints all the way to the monkeys’ enclosure, which was even noisier than usual. All of the monkeys were chattering at the top of their voices about the blur of red fur streaking its way through the top of their trees.
“Her name’s Ruby. She’s a red panda,” explained Zoe, trying to catch her breath. “She’s also very fast!” But before she could catch up with Ruby, the little red panda had leapt from the enclosure and was off on her way again, disappearing from view.
“Oh no, not again!” Zoe’s heart sank. What was Great-Uncle Horace going to say if she lost Ruby on her very first day at the zoo? And what if she got hurt somehow? Zoe had to find her right away!
Once again, Zoe followed Ruby’s paw prints in the snow.
“Where do you think she’s going this time?” Meep asked, his head peeping out from inside Zoe’s coat.
“I’m not sure.” Zoe caught sight of a flash of red fur climbing a tree up ahead of them. “There she is!” Zoe hurried over to the foot of the tree.
Ruby gave a loud squeak.
“What do you mean, ‘that looks like fun’?” Zoe asked. “What are you up to, Ruby?” She gazed up into the branches. Ruby was staring down into the enclosure on the other side of the tree. She gave another loud squeak.
“Oh no!” exclaimed Zoe.
“What is it?” Meep scrambled out of her coat and on to her shoulder to get a better look.
“She’s saying she wants to go in that enclosure.”
“Which enclosure?”
“The snow leopards’ enclosure. No, Ruby, don’t!” Zoe called.
Ruby looked down from the branch she was perched on and grunted at Zoe.
“You can’t go in there because that’s where the snow leopards live,” replied Zoe. “You need to come down.”
But instead of coming down, Ruby got even more excited.
“Why does she want to see the snow leopards?” asked Meep.
“She says they come from the same part of the world as she does,” explained Zoe.
Ruby edged further along the branch, chattering away excitedly.
“I know their enclosure looks really fun,” replied Zoe. “But you need to calm down. Please!”
Ruby squeaked again.
Just then, Lila, the mother snow leopard, poked her head out of her cave. Hearing Ruby squeaking, she looked up into the tree.
“Hi, Lila,” said Zoe. She really hoped Lila wouldn’t be cross about her unexpected visitor. “This is Ruby the red panda. She just moved into the zoo.”
Ruby crawled to the very end of the branch. It dipped suddenly, knocking a large lump of snow on to Lila’s head!
“Oh no! Ruby!” exclaimed Zoe.
Lila shook the snow from her head and growled. Then she went back inside her cave.
Ruby started running up and down along the branch, chattering at Zoe.
“No, I’m sorry, you can’t just explore for a little bit,” replied Zoe. Ruby reminded her of her cousin Sam, when he ate too many sweets at his birthday party. He’d started bouncing around all over the place, yelling at the top of his voice. “Lila has four shy little cubs who need to get their sleep.”
This time Ruby squealed so loudly Meep almost fell from Zoe’s shoulder in shock.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to play with them right now,” said Zoe. “Why don’t you come down and I can show you some more people and animals in the zoo?”
Ruby sighed. To Zoe’s relief, she slowly made her way down the tree.
“Don’t be sad,” said Zoe, scooping her up. Then she had a great idea. “I know, how about we move the snow animal competition to outside your enclosure? Then you’ll be able to see everyone decide which animals to build today, and you can watch the judging tomorrow! You couldn’t be bored with all that going on, and you’ll make loads of new friends. How does that sound?”
Ruby gave a happy little wriggle.
“OK, OK,” laughed Zoe. “Stay still.”
Zoe headed back to the centre of the zoo with Meep on her shoulder and Ruby in her arms. A small crowd had gathered outside the café, looking through the table of props and talking about which animals they wanted to build for the contest. It was Saturday, so children didn’t have school and were free to come to the zoo and compete. Zoe’s cousins, Willow and Sam, were playing a game of tug-of-war with a long red scarf. Two of Zoe’s classmates, Jack and Elliot, were also there, looking through the hats. When they saw Zoe they came running over.
“Hey, Zoe,” said Jack. He pointed to Ruby. “Who’s this?” As soon as Ruby saw Jack she started to squeak and reach towards him with her paws.
“This is Ruby. She’s a red panda, and she’s full of energy,” laughed Zoe, as she held the wriggly red panda even more tightly.
“Hi Ruby,” said Elliot, reaching out his hand for her to sniff. “She’s so bouncy!”
“She certainly is.” A little too bouncy, Zoe thought to herself with a giggle.
Just then Sally emerged from the café. “Good morning, everyone!” she called. “The judge for the snow animal contest will arrive first thing tomorrow, so everyone should decide on their animal and start working right away!”
“Hurray!” cheered Willow. “We’re going to make a snow tiger.”
“No we’re not,” called Sam. “We’re going to make a snow hippopotamus.”
“Would it be OK if we moved the competition a little closer to Ruby’s enclosure?” Zoe asked Sally as the twins began to argue. “I think it would really help to keep her occupied if she could see lots of people. She’s very friendly.”
“So I see,” laughed Sally, as Ruby began patting her arm with her paw. “Of course we can.”
Everyone gathered up the props and helped move them in front of Ruby’s enclosure. “Thanks for looking after her, Zoe,” Stephanie called out as she approached. “It looks like she likes it here at the zoo. But perhaps it’s about time to get her into her enclosure so she can settle in properly?”
Zoe nodded. But before she could take Ruby into her enclosure, the excited little panda wriggled out of her arms and began to run around in the snow. “Ruby, stop!” Zoe called, but Ruby was too interested in watching the children to listen.
Willow and Sam started building a mound of snow. “I’ve made a tail,” cried Willow.
“That tail’s too long for a hippopotamus,” said Sam.
“That’s because it’s for a tiger, silly,” replied Willow.
“I’m not silly and this isn’t a tiger,” yelled Sam.
Ruby started scampering around them faster and faster. Then, she rolled on her back, scuffing snow up with her little back legs. A lump of snow hit Sam on the back.
“Hey, don’t throw snow at me,” he exclaimed, turning to Willow.
“I didn’t!” replied Willow.
“Yes, you did.” Sam rolled up a snowball and flung it at her.
Ruby shrieked with excitement.
“I know playing with the snow is fun,” said Zoe, hurrying over. “But building animals with it is even more fun than throwing it! Now, let’s get to building!” She picked up Ruby and walked over to a tree inside her enclosure. “You’ll enjoy watching them from in here too, I promise,” she whispered in the panda’s furry red ear.
Ruby squeaked and climbed up into the tree. She was calmer but seemed a bit sad.
Zoe sighed. The judge for the Snowy Paws Award would be arriving the next day. She really hoped everyone would calm down and finish getting ready. Having Ruby at the zoo was a lot of fun but she certainly was rowdy! And having Ruby and the twins was triple trouble!
After a long day of decorating and getting everything in the zoo ready, Zoe woke up the next morning full of excitement. It was cold and sunny outside, the perfect weather for the Snowy Paws Award judging! After getting dress
ed, she fixed breakfast for herself and Meep, tucked Meep inside her jacket again and headed over to the café to make a big batch of hot chocolate. Sally had asked her to bring some hot drinks for the children who had come back to the zoo early to finish building their snow animals before the judge arrived. She popped a handful of marshmallows into each of the drinks, then carefully carried the tray outside.
“Who wants a hot chocolate?” she called.
“Yes please!” Elliot grinned. He and Jack had been busy making a huge snow elephant but they were having trouble getting the trunk to stay on.
“Maybe we could turn it into a mouse instead,” sighed Jack as they came over to get their drinks.
“It would be a giant mouse,” giggled Zoe. She looked over at her cousins. They still hadn’t agreed on what animal they were making.
“We can’t make a tiger because we can’t make it stripy,” said Willow.
“Yes we can,” replied Sam.
“How?” Willow frowned.
“We could … paint the snow.”
“Don’t be silly, you can’t paint snow.”
“I’M NOT SILLY!” yelled Sam.
Ruby was watching all of this from a big tree in her enclosure, its long branches stretching across the wall to the edge of the penguin enclosure. She’d looked bored when Zoe first saw her, but now, hearing the commotion, the red panda scampered down from her tree excitedly.
“Uh-oh!” chattered Meep.
“Willow, Sam, come and get some hot chocolate,” called Zoe. “It’s got your favourite marshmallows in.”
To Zoe’s relief, the twins stopped arguing and came running over to get a drink. Ruby scampered over to the edge of the enclosure nearest to the children, where there was a big pile of snow. She started rolling about in it, throwing snow everywhere and upending some of the containers of food on the ground. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch and giggle.
“She’s so funny,” said Willow.
Ruby shook the snow from her fur and it went flying everywhere. The children laughed even louder. The little red panda squeaked with delight at the attention she was getting and burrowed into a mound of snow. For a couple of seconds there was no sign of her, but then she burst back out.
“Red pandas have so much energy,” said Jack.
“This one certainly does,” laughed Zoe.
“What on earth is all this noise about?”
They all fell silent at the sound of Mr Pinch’s voice. As usual, the zoo manager was dressed in his extra-smart uniform and he was holding a spade.
“Uh-oh!” said Meep, taking cover inside Zoe’s coat. Meep didn’t really like Mr Pinch as he was always grumpy with him. The truth was, he was grumpy with everyone, and judging by the frown on his face, today was no different.
Mr Pinch glared at Ruby. “What is this creature? And why is she making such a mess?”
“That is Ruby the red panda,” Zoe replied. “She arrived yesterday. She’s just having fun in the snow!”
“Ugh! A new animal, now of all times?” spluttered Mr Pinch. He looked around at the half-built snow animals and the props lying on the ground. “The judge for the Snowy Paws Award will be arriving soon. What is she going to think about all this mess?”
I’m sure she won’t mind, Zoe thought to herself. It just shows that everyone is having fun. “I’m sure once the snow animals are finished it will look great,” she said.
Mr Pinch frowned. “Hmm. Well, can you get them finished quickly please? Nobody likes a mess!”
The children all hurried back to their snow animals and carried on building. Mr Pinch started clearing the snow from the footpath leading to the café with his spade.
“We need to make the hippo bigger,” Willow said to Sam, adding more snow to their animal.
“No we don’t,” argued Sam. “We need to make the tiger thinner.” And he removed the snow.
“We’re not making a tiger!” Willow shouted, trying to put the snow back. But then she lost her footing and went toppling into Sam. Sam went flying backwards – straight into Elliot and Jack’s snow elephant! Ruby, who had been playing in her enclosure in the snow next to Jack, squeaked loudly in fright, surprising a girl who was building a snow sloth. The girl stumbled back, knocking the head right off the sloth and on to the ground.
“Oh no!” exclaimed Zoe. Now the zoo looked even messier! She glanced over at Mr Pinch. Thankfully, he was still busy clearing the path and hadn’t noticed.
“My sloth’s got no head!” cried the little girl.
“Our elephant’s got no trunk,” sighed Elliot.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” said Willow, her voice trembling.
“It’s OK, don’t cry.” Zoe hurried over and gave her a hug. “If we all work together, we can help rebuild the animals and clean up the mess.”
Sam came over and Zoe wrapped him into the hug too. “I really wanted to win the contest,” he said sadly.
“Me too,” said Willow. “I told Mum that we would.”
Zoe squeezed them tightly. “Auntie Laura will be proud of you no matter what happens. Now let’s get these snow animals fixed up, quick!”
Inside her enclosure, Ruby was jumping and playing in the snow again while the children tried to fix their snow animals.
“Sorry, Ruby,” Willow said. “We can’t play now, we’ve got to clean up this mess!”
Ruby sighed and slowly climbed up her tree once more. As Zoe and Meep helped the others rebuild their snow animals, Ruby gave encouraging squeaks from high in the branches.
Zoe worked as fast as she could, helping the little girl rebuild her sloth’s head. She really hoped they’d get it all done in time. She’d had no idea the Snowy Paws Award would be quite so tiring!
The children were all happily rebuilding their snow animals when Great-Uncle Horace and Zoe’s mum Lucy came hurrying over.
“The judge is about to arrive,” said Lucy.
“But the Zoo isn’t nearly tidy enough!” exclaimed Mr Pinch, striding over, holding his spade. “There’s still snow all over the place.”
“It is the Snowy Paws Award,” chuckled Great-Uncle Horace. “I think the snow looks lovely. Now, let’s go and meet the judge and take her to see the special winter animal exhibits. Zoe, would you like to come too? You know so much about the zoo. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell her some wonderful facts about the animals. We want to make sure she has the best day out ever.”
“Oh, yes please!” Zoe tucked Meep into her coat and hurried over.
“I don’t really see how a child would know more about the animals than me. I am the zoo manager,” grumbled Mr Pinch.
“Now, now, Mr Pinch, the more the merrier,” said Great-Uncle Horace, giving Zoe a wink.
Zoe tried not to giggle. It was more like “the more the grumpier” when it came to Mr Pinch. But she knew that Mr Pinch was only so grumpy because he cared about the zoo and wanted them to win.
As they reached the zoo gates Zoe saw a rather stern looking woman holding a clipboard. She had short grey hair and she was wearing a tightly buttoned up coat, a neat scarf and very shiny shoes.
Zoe’s heart sank a little. The judge didn’t look very friendly. Zoe hoped she’d like the snowy activities and give them a good score.
“Hello, I’m Mrs Price,” said the judge.
“Welcome to the Rescue Zoo.” Great-Uncle Horace took Mrs Price’s hand and gave it a hearty shake. “This is my niece Lucy, the zoo vet, and her daughter Zoe. And this is Mr Pinch, the zoo manager.”
“Very pleased to meet you,” said Mrs Price, shaking each of their hands. When she got to Zoe, Meep gave a welcoming chirp from inside her coat. “Oh my goodness!” Mrs Price took a step back in shock.
“This is my mouse lemur, Meep,” explained Zoe. “He’s my best friend and he goes everywhere with me.”
“Unfortunately,” muttered Mr Pinch.
“I see,” said Mrs Price, writing something on her clipboard. Zoe hoped she wasn’t giving th
e zoo a bad mark already!
“Let the tour begin,” announced Great-Uncle Horace.
The first stop on the tour was the polar bears’ enclosure.
“There’s Snowy,” said Great-Uncle Horace, as they gathered outside the enclosure. The polar bear was digging away happily inside a gravel pit.
“Great-Uncle Horace rescued Snowy when she was just a baby,” said Zoe.
“Is that so?” replied Mrs Price. “She looks as if she’s really settled in.”
“Oh she has,” said Zoe. “The pit she’s digging in was just added to her enclosure a little while ago.”
“Yes, as an enrichment activity,” Great-Uncle Horace added. “Enrichment activities help animals feel at home and keep them busy.”
Mrs Price nodded.
“Did you know that polar bears’ fur used to be brown but it became white so they could camouflage themselves in the snow?” Zoe continued.
“I did not know that.” Mrs Price’s mouth curled upwards into a slight smile.
“And they can swim for two hundred miles.”
“Goodness me! That’s very interesting.” Mrs Price’s smile grew bigger and Zoe relaxed a little.
“Zoe and I made a poster for the exhibit.” Lucy pointed to a colourful poster on the enclosure wall. “It’s got lots of other fun facts about polar bears on it.”
Mrs Price went over to read the poster, then she wrote something on her clipboard. “Where to next?” she asked.
“The next enclosure belongs to the snow leopards,” replied Mr Pinch. He led her along the freshly cleared footpath.
“I love the decorations you’ve put up,” Mrs Price said, gesturing toward the pretty little blue lights in the trees, the garlands hung across the signs, and the paw-print cutouts placed along the footpath. “They’re very creative.”