They all gathered closer as Great-Uncle Horace slowly pulled back the towel. Zoe peered inside the basket and saw a little ball of light fur covered in brown and white spikes.“It’s a hedgehog!” she exclaimed.

  Zoe Parker poured the milk on to her breakfast cereal, doing a little dance as she did so.

  “Careful!” said Zoe’s mum, Lucy, as some milk splashed on the table.

  “Sorry!” Zoe said, grinning. “I’m just so excited. Today is going to be the best day ever!”

  Meep, a mouse lemur and Zoe’s best friend, hopped up and down on the chair next to her. Zoe passed him a bowl filled with blueberries and sliced banana. “Here’s your breakfast, Meep,” she said.

  With a happy yelp, Meep began gobbling up the fruit. Eating was his favourite thing in the whole world. A cheery trumpeting noise outside made Zoe smile. The elephants were obviously excited about having their breakfast too.

  Zoe was excited because today she wasn’t going to school – her school was coming to her! Zoe’s class were visiting the Rescue Zoo on a trip and her teacher, Miss Hawkins, had decided that this year they’d choose an animal to adopt. Zoe’s class would learn all about the animal and visit it every half-term, and they would also create a display about it in their classroom. “I wonder which animal my class will choose,” she mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.

  “Well, they certainly have a lot to choose from,” replied her mum.

  Zoe looked at the clock on the wall. The class would be here soon, and Great-Uncle Horace hadn’t arrived yet.

  Zoe’s Great-Uncle Horace was a famous explorer and animal expert. He saved animals from all over the world who were injured or endangered and brought them to live in his rescue zoo. Zoe and her mum lived at the zoo too, in a cosy cottage in the grounds. Lucy was a vet in the zoo hospital and Zoe dreamed of one day working as a zookeeper.

  Great-Uncle Horace had promised he’d give Zoe’s class a talk about the zoo and about their chosen animal at a party in the café at the end of the day. He’d also said he’d join Zoe for breakfast so he could come and meet her class as they arrived.

  “Do you want me to phone Uncle Horace to see what’s happened?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes, please,” replied Zoe.

  As Zoe’s mum left the room to make the call, Meep leaped on to the windowsill, waving his paws excitedly.

  “What is it?” asked Zoe, looking out of the window. Outside a breeze was blowing through the trees and the bright blue sky was filled with swirls of orange and gold leaves.

  “It’s raining leaves!” Meep chattered.

  Zoe giggled. She was able to understand what the little lemur was saying because she had a special gift – she was able to talk to animals! Nobody knew Zoe could do this, though, not even her mum or Great-Uncle Horace. It was Zoe’s secret.

  “It’s not raining leaves, Meep,” she said, stroking his silky grey fur. “It’s autumn.”

  “I love autumn!” Meep said, but then looked a little worried. “But won’t the trees get cold without their leaves?”

  “No,” Zoe told him. “They like it that way during the winter. And then they’ll grow new ones next spring!”

  Zoe’s mum came back into the kitchen holding her vet’s bag. “Great-Uncle Horace says he’s very sorry he wasn’t able to join us for breakfast. He’s had to make an emergency rescue but he’ll be here as soon as he can.”

  Zoe’s heart sank. Great-Uncle Horace rescued animals from all over the world, so there was no way to know where he might be, or when he’d be back.

  “Why don’t you go and wait for your class by the zoo gates when you’re ready?” Lucy said, popping an apple into her vet’s bag. As always, a stethoscope was poking out of the top of the bag.

  “I’m ready!” cried Zoe, leaping up.

  “Er, you might want to put some shoes on first,” her mum said with a laugh.

  Zoe looked down at her feet and giggled. She was still wearing her fluffy penguin slippers.

  She picked up Meep and raced from the room.

  As soon as she was ready, Zoe hurried out of the little cottage with Meep on her shoulder. She skipped past the lions eating their breakfast and the hippos bathing in the mud and the monkeys swinging from their trees. She ran past the reptile house and the nocturnal mammal house and the petting zoo, calling a cheery “hello” to all her animal friends as she went. Her mum was right. There were so many animals in the Rescue Zoo; how would her classmates be able to choose just one to adopt?

  Finally, they reached the gates at the zoo’s entrance. Meep scampered up to the top of the gate, perching on a carving of Great-Uncle Horace’s hot-air balloon.

  “Can I be adopted by your class, Zoe?” he chirped.

  Zoe shook her head. “You’ve already been adopted – by me!”

  Meep was the only animal in the zoo who didn’t live in an enclosure. He lived with Zoe and her mum in the cottage. He even slept curled at the foot of Zoe’s bed!

  “They’re coming! They’re coming!” Meep cried as the school bus made its way down the road. Zoe’s tummy fluttered with excitement as the bus came to a stop, and one by one her classmates came through the gates. At the end of the line was their teacher, Miss Hawkins.

  “Today is going to be so cool!” exclaimed Zoe’s friend Priti, giving her a hug.

  “I can’t wait to see the lions,” Jack said, grinning. “And the llamas and the sloths.”

  “Don’t forget the monkeys,” added Nicola.

  “My favourite are the elephants,” said Elliot.

  “I like the giraffes,” said Grace. “Especially the baby giraffe, Jamie. He’s so cute.”

  Zoe smiled. By the sounds of it her class wanted to adopt the entire zoo!

  Meep scampered over to Zoe’s friends and started dancing around their feet.

  “Hello, Meep!” Priti cried, bending down to stroke him.

  The last person to get off the bus was a new boy called Toby. He was wearing a red woolly hat and clutching the sketchbook he took everywhere with him. Toby had only just started at their school, and he was really quiet.

  “Hey, Toby, come and meet Meep,” Priti called.

  As the others looked at Toby, his face blushed as red as his hat. He shuffled over, but instead of looking at Meep he started flicking through his sketchbook.

  “OK, everyone, it’s time to get into groups,” called Miss Hawkins. “Then you can go and look at the animals.”

  “Yay!” cheered Elliot.

  “Can my group go straight to the elephants, please?”

  “You can visit the animals in any order,” replied Miss Hawkins, “as long as you see all of them.”

  Miss Hawkins divided the class into groups. Zoe was put in a group with Priti, Elliot, Jack, Toby and Grace – and Meep, of course, who had now jumped back on to her shoulder. Just as they were about to go off and explore, they heard the roar of an engine coming down the road. A Jeep screeched through the zoo gates, driven by a man with tufty white hair and a bushy white beard.

  “Great-Uncle Horace!” Zoe cried. She was so pleased he’d made it in time.

  “Goo! Goo!” Meep scampered over to the Jeep. Great-Uncle Horace had rescued Meep when he was a tiny baby and, like all the animals in the zoo, Meep really loved him. He wasn’t able to pronounce his name properly, so the little lemur called him Goo.

  Zoe followed Meep over to the Jeep, and her class crowded round too. Great-Uncle Horace was wearing a tweed jacket and trousers and a stripy scarf. A beautiful hyacinth macaw was perched close to him. It was his beloved pet, Kiki, who went everywhere with him.

  “Good morning!” bellowed Great-Uncle Horace. “I’m sorry I’m late. I had an important rescue to attend to.”

  Zoe’s skin prickled with excitement. She loved it when Great-Uncle Horace brought a new animal to the zoo. What would it be this time? She couldn’t see any animals in the Jeep – just a lot of luggage.

  “Hello, Zoe,” said Great-Uncle Horace, giving her a hug. “Hello, Meep.” He bent down to pat the little lemur on the head. “So, would you all like to know who I’ve rescued?”

  “Yes, please!” the children cried.

  Zoe frowned. Where could this mysterious animal be?

  Great-Uncle Horace reached into the back seat of the Jeep and pulled out a basket covered with a towel. “You’ll have to be very quiet, though,” he said. “We don’t want to startle him.”

  “It must be a very small animal,” said Elliot.

  “I think it’s a rabbit,” whispered Nicola.

  “Or a mouse,” said Jack.

  They all gathered closer as Great-Uncle Horace slowly pulled back the towel. Zoe peered inside the basket and saw a little ball of light fur covered in brown and white spikes.

  “It’s a hedgehog!” she exclaimed.

  “An African pygmy hoglet, to be precise,” replied Great-Uncle Horace with a twinkly-eyed grin.

  “A hoglet?” asked Zoe.

  “It’s what you call a baby hedgehog,” replied Great-Uncle Horace. “Someone set him free in the woods,” Great-Uncle Horace explained. “He used to be a pet. Unfortunately once an animal like this has been kept as a pet, it has no idea how to survive in the wild.”

  Zoe frowned, feeling very sorry for the baby hedgehog. She wished that the hedgehog’s owners had made sure he was safe instead of setting him free in the woods. He must have been scared!

  “Don’t worry, Zoe,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “That’s why I’ve brought him here. The zoo will be the perfect h

ome for him.”

  The hedgehog looked up at Zoe with shiny black eyes. There were a few faint white whiskers on either side of his pointed nose.

  “He’s so sweet!” Priti exclaimed.

  As the rest of the class gathered closer, the hedgehog suddenly rolled into a ball. His face completely disappeared!

  “He must be feeling shy seeing so many of you,” Great-Uncle Horace said. “Never mind. I’ll go and get him settled into his new home at the nocturnal mammal house.”

  “Ooh, can I come too?” cried Zoe. She loved helping the new animals get settled into the zoo, especially because she was able to talk to them. It helped them feel welcome and happy.

  “I don’t see why not,” replied Great-Uncle Horace. “As long as it’s OK with Miss Hawkins.”

  “I promise I won’t be long,” Zoe told Miss Hawkins earnestly. “I’ll catch up with my group.”

  Miss Hawkins nodded. “Fine with me!”

  “Thank you!” As Zoe set off with Great-Uncle Horace and Meep, she turned to see which way her group were going. Priti, Elliot, Jack and Grace were all chatting excitedly together as they headed towards the elephant enclosure – but the new boy, Toby, was trailing far behind them.

  Zoe sighed. Poor Toby looked really sad. But the sight of the animals at the Rescue Zoo would cheer him up for sure!

  At least, Zoe hoped so.

  The nocturnal mammal house was in a quiet part of the zoo, surrounded by tall oak trees. The ground outside was covered with orange, yellow and brown leaves. Zoe loved the crunching sound they made under her feet.

  As she followed Great-Uncle Horace inside, she had to squint to see the enclosures around her. It was so dark in the nocturnal house! It had to be dim because the animals who lived there liked to be awake at night and asleep during the day. Zoe called the nocturnal house the “topsy-turvy house” because at night the keepers turned all the lights on so that it seemed like daytime, and the nocturnal animals all went to sleep. But right now, during the day, they pretended it was night so that the animals would be awake for people to see.

  As her eyes adjusted, Zoe saw the bats fluttering around in the blue light of their enclosure. In the enclosure opposite, a friendly chinchilla called Suki was climbing on a branch. She gave a loud squeak of welcome as soon as she saw Zoe and Great-Uncle Horace.

  Alice, the keeper in charge of the nocturnal mammal house, came hurrying over. “Hello, Zoe. Hello, Mr Higgins. Do you have a new arrival for me?”

  “We certainly do,” said Great-Uncle Horace.

  “It’s a hedgehog – I mean, a hoglet,” said Zoe. “Great-Uncle Horace had to rescue him because he wasn’t safe in the wild.”

  Alice smiled. “Is that so? Well, he’ll be very safe here. There’s an enclosure free at the end of the row. I’ll prepare him some food and we can get him all set up.”

  “What do hedgehogs eat?” asked Zoe.

  “Fruits and vegetables,” replied Alice.

  At the mention of food Meep did a little dance at Zoe’s feet.

  “And mealworms, and a special feed made for insectivores,” continued Alice.

  “Yuck!” chirped Meep.

  Zoe couldn’t answer Meep, as no one knew she could understand him. She swallowed her smile and asked, “What’s an insectivore?”

  “An animal that eats insects and worms,” explained Alice.

  “Double yuck!” Meep chattered, pulling a face. Zoe had to bite her lip to keep from giggling.

  “I’ll help Alice get the food,” said Great-Uncle Horace, handing Zoe the basket. “Can you show this little fellow to his new home?”

  “Of course,” replied Zoe.

  She made her way to the empty enclosure at the end of the row, carrying the basket very carefully. She didn’t want to startle the little hedgehog again. Placing the basket on the ground, she removed the towel from the top. The hoglet slowly uncurled himself and stared up at her.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Zoe whispered. “My name’s Zoe, and you’re at my Great-Uncle Horace’s Rescue Zoo. Lots of animals live here, so you’ll be able to make loads of new friends.”

  “I’ll be your friend!” Meep chattered, jumping up and down so he could see inside the basket.

  “That’s Meep,” Zoe said. “What’s your name?”

  The hedgehog made a snuffling sound.

  “Hugo!” Zoe exclaimed. “What a lovely name.”

  The hedgehog purred.

  “Do you want to see your new home?”

  Zoe put her hand in the basket and laid it out flat. The hedgehog shuffled over and sniffed at her fingers, then crawled on to her palm. Zoe lifted Hugo out of the basket and showed him the enclosure. There was soil on the bottom, and it was filled with lots of pretty plants to hide in and sturdy branches to climb. That was another topsy-turvy thing about the nocturnal mammal house – it looked just like the outside, inside!

  Hugo squeaked excitedly.

  “Yes, you’ll be able to root and burrow here,” replied Zoe.

  “What does root and burrow mean?” asked Meep.

  “It’s when animals make a home for themselves underground.”

  “Can we make a home underground?” chirped Meep.

  Zoe laughed. “I’m not sure Great-Uncle Horace would want us digging up his zoo.” She carefully placed Hugo into his enclosure and the little hedgehog looked around, sniffing at some of the rocks and leaves. Then he came back over to Zoe and squeaked.

  “What did he say?” asked Meep.

  “He said that the old lady who used to be his owner had to move house, and she wasn’t allowed to take pets with her – apart from her special assistance dog who helps her,” explained Zoe. “That’s why she set Hugo free in the woods.”

  Hugo snuffled. He wished he was helpful enough to have been able to go with his old owner.

  “Oh, don’t be sad, Hugo. Assistance dogs are specially trained. I’m sure hedgehogs can be very helpful too.”

  “Am I helpful?” chattered Meep.

  “Yes! You’re always helpful at letting me know when it’s time to eat!” replied Zoe with a giggle.

  Hugo grunted.

  “The woods must have been scary,” replied Zoe. “I’m glad you feel a lot safer now.”

  Just then Alice and Great-Uncle Horace returned.

  “I hope our hoglet is ready for his breakfast!” Great-Uncle Horace announced.

  Hugo gave a contented purr as Alice placed a dish of berries into the enclosure.

  “My, he does seem happy,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Great work, Zoe.”

  Zoe beamed with pride. “His name’s Hugo,” she told him.

  “Very good,” replied Great-Uncle Horace. “You always come up with the most excellent names.”

  Zoe grinned at Hugo. She hadn’t come up with that name – Hugo had told her himself!

  “Right, I need to visit some of the other animals,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “I’ll see you later at the party in the café.”

  “OK.” As Great-Uncle Horace strode off towards the exit, Zoe scooped up Meep and leaned into the enclosure. “I need to go now, Hugo, but I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

  Hugo made a whimpering sound and scuttled over to the front of the enclosure.

  “I won’t be gone for long,” said Zoe. But Hugo continued to whimper. “I don’t think he wants to be left on his own,” Zoe said to Alice. “Would it be OK if I take him with me?”

  “Sure,” replied Alice. “If that will make him feel better, go ahead!”

  “Cool!”

  Zoe placed her hand on the ground of the enclosure and Hugo quickly shuffled on, purring happily.

  She’d make sure Hugo felt safe – that was the most important way that Zoe and Meep could help the animals at the Rescue Zoo. Now it was time to go and find her friends.

  Carefully placing Hugo on one shoulder and Meep on the other, Zoe set off through the zoo.

  “Over there’s the snake house,” she said to Hugo, pointing to the building next door to the nocturnal house.

  Hugo grunted a question in her ear.

 

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