Zoe’s Rescue Zoo: The Worried Wombat

Zoe heard a snuffling sound and a round black nose peeped out of the carrier lid, twitching and sniffing the air. Then a head with little pointy ears appeared.

Look out for: The Lonely Lion Cub The Puzzled Penguin The Playful Panda The Silky Seal Pup The Eager Elephant The Lucky Snow Leopard The Pesky Polar Bear The Cuddly Koala The Wild Wolf Pup The Happy Hippo The Sleepy Snowy Owl The Scruffy Sea Otter The Picky Puffin The Giggly Giraffe The Curious Kangaroo The Super Sloth The Little Llama The Messy Meerkat The Helpful Hedgehog The Rowdy Red Panda The Talkative Tiger The Runaway Reindeer The Adventurous Arctic Fox The Rascally Raccoon

Illustrated by Sophy Williams

With special thanks to Siobhan Curham For Sophia Ervin First published in the UK in 2024 by Nosy Crow Ltd Wheat Wharf, 27a Shad Thames, London, SE1 2XZ, UK Nosy Crow Eireann Ltd 44 Orchard Grove, Kenmare Co Kerry, V93 FY22, Ireland Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd Text copyright © Working Partners Ltd, 2024 Illustrations © Sophy Williams, 2024 The right of Working Partners Ltd and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved ISBN: 978 1 83994 909 8 A CIP catalogue record for this book will be available from the British Library This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of Nosy Crow Ltd. The publisher and copyright holders prohibit the use of either text or illustrations to develop any generative machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) models or related technologies.

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Chapter One

A Marsupial Surprise Zoe Parker skipped along the winding path through the heart of the Rescue Zoo. Meep, her pet mouse lemur, scampered along beside her.

“I love breakfast,” Meep chirped. “It’s my favourite time of the day.”

Zoe giggled. “Anytime there’s food is your favourite time of the day, Meep.”

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As they passed the elephant enclosure, Oscar, the oldest elephant in the zoo, lifted his wrinkled grey trunk and trumpeted a cheery hello.

“Good morning, Oscar,” Zoe replied.

“Sorry we can’t stop, we’re on our way to give the pandas their breakfast.”

As Zoe continued on her way, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Not only did she live in the Rescue Zoo, but she had a special secret. She was able to talk to animals and to understand what they were saying too. No one else knew this secret, not even her Great-Uncle Horace, who owned the zoo. Great-Uncle Horace was a world-famous explorer and animal expert.

He’d built the zoo as a safe place for animals to come to stay if they were hurt, lost, endangered or in need of a new home.

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Zoe lived in a cottage on the grounds of the zoo with her mum, Lucy, who was the zoo vet.

The rising sun shone gold between the branches of the trees as Zoe and Meep reached the pandas’ enclosure. Stephanie, the pandas’ keeper, was waiting there to greet them. She was holding a bucket full of bamboo shoots.

“Did Stephanie eat a really big breakfast?” Meep chirped.

“I don’t know. Why?” asked Zoe. “Because her tummy’s so big!”

Zoe giggled. “Her tummy’s big because she’s having a baby, silly!” She scooped Meep up and kissed the top of his silky grey head.

“Hello, Zoe! Hello, Meep!” called Stephanie. “Thanks so much for helping me today.”

“You’re welcome,” said Zoe. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m well!” Stephanie replied, patting her stomach. “And I only have one month to go before the baby arrives. Gosh, that means the baby shower is coming up next week!

Busy, busy… Would you like to carry the bamboo to the pandas for me today?”

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“Sure!” Zoe said. She put Meep down and took the bucket from Stephanie. As they reached the enclosure gate, Chi Chi and Mei Mei the panda twins came running over, barking cheerily.

“Good morning,” called Zoe. “We have lots of delicious bamboo for your breakfast.”

“It’s as if they can understand you,” Stephanie laughed as the pandas waved their paws in excitement.

Zoe grinned to herself. If only Stephanie knew that the pandas really did understand her! She felt for the silver paw-print pendant around her neck and held it up to the enclosure gate.

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Great-Uncle Horace had given her the pendant as a present. It opened all of the enclosures in the zoo. The gate swung open and they went inside. As Zoe began scattering the bamboo over the enclosure floor, she heard the crunch of shoes on the path outside. She’d know the sound of those shoes anywhere. They belonged to Mr Pinch, the zoo manager.

“Uh-oh,” chirped Meep, and he scampered up a tree.

Sure enough, Zoe turned to see Mr Pinch standing outside the enclosure.

As usual there was a frown on his face.

“Why are you throwing bamboo all over the floor?” he called.

“We’re giving the pandas their breakfast,” Zoe replied.

Mr Pinch gave a loud sigh. “Why can’t they eat their breakfast in a neat and tidy bowl like we do?”

“Don’t worry, Mr Pinch,” said Zoe. “The bamboo won’t be there for long, I promise! The pandas never leave even a single leaf behind.” Mr Pinch loved everything in the zoo to be neat and tidy.

“I suppose that’s all right then,” Mr Pinch muttered, before stomping off.

Once they’d fed the twins, Zoe, Stephanie and Meep went into the next enclosure. Ruby the red panda came clambering out of a tree to greet them, nuzzling her head against Zoe’s leg.

“Ooh, the baby’s kicking!” Stephanie exclaimed as Zoe gave Ruby some bamboo.

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“Does it hurt?” Zoe asked, her eyes wide.

“No, not at all,” Stephanie replied.

“Here, give me your hand and you can feel it too.” Stephanie placed Zoe’s hand on her tummy. Zoe felt a soft push from inside and grinned. It was so exciting to think of Stephanie’s baby inside her tummy.

“I can’t wait to meet your baby,” said Zoe. “You must be excited about bringing her here to visit the animals when she’s born.”

To Zoe’s surprise, Stephanie’s smile faded and she looked really sad. But before Zoe could ask why, she heard the chuff-chuff-chuff of a helicopter overhead.

“It’s Great-Uncle Horace!” she cried.

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They hurried out of the enclosure and over to the zoo gates. A yellow helicopter was coming in to land right outside in a big field, blowing great gusts of wind everywhere around it. When the engines went quiet, the door opened and Great-Uncle Horace leapt out. He waved at them before reaching back inside to pull out a large animal carrier. Zoe grinned with excitement. Great-Uncle Horace must be bringing a new animal to live at the zoo!

Hearing the sound of the helicopter, Zoe’s mum, Lucy, and Kieran, the marsupial keeper, came hurrying over to join them.

“Good morning, everyone!” boomed Great-Uncle Horace as he walked towards them with the carrier. His white 10

beard was longer and bushier than ever, and his beautiful pet hyacinth macaw, Kiki, was perched on his shoulder.

“Good morning, Great-Uncle Horace,” Zoe replied. “Have you brought a new animal to live at the zoo?”

“I have indeed, Zoe, and not just one.”

Great-Uncle Horace gave her a twinklyeyed smile.

Zoe’s excitement grew. She stared at the animal carrier, trying to guess what kind of animals could be inside.

“I rescued these poor creatures from a bushfire in Australia,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Wildfires spread very quickly through the bushy areas and forests there and are difficult to put out. Their home was totally destroyed. It was a very sad business.”

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Zoe watched as he started to open the carrier.

“What do you think they are?” Meep chirped, scrambling on to Zoe’s shoulder to get a better look.

“I’m not sure,” Zoe whispered. “But Kieran’s here, so I think they must be marsupials. Perhaps Great-Uncle Horace has brought some more kangaroos from Australia!” She smiled as she remembered the time he’d brought a baby kangaroo called Bouncer to the zoo.

Zoe heard a snuffling sound and a round black nose peeped out of the carrier lid, twitching and sniffing the air. Then a head with little pointy ears appeared. Kieran carefully lifted the animal out of the carrier. It had short legs and a round body, and it looked more like 13

a very big badger than a kangaroo.

“Our very first wombats!” Great-Uncle Horace announced. He reached into the carrier and lifted out a smaller wombat.

“A mother and her nearly grown daughter.”

“Ah, they’re so cute!” Zoe exclaimed.

She went over to Great-Uncle Horace

and stroked the young wombat on the head. “I didn’t know that wombats were marsupials.”

“Yes, they have pouches for their babies just like kangaroos,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Although their pouches are backward-facing instead of forward, so the opening is between their back legs.”

“Why is that?” Zoe asked. She wanted to be a zookeeper when she grew up, so she always liked learning new animal facts.

“Because they love to dig. Having a backward-facing pouch stops the mud from getting in the baby’s face,” explained Great-Uncle Horace.

“Lucy, I think you might want to take a look at this,” said Kieran. He beckoned Lucy over to look at the mother wombat.

“Is she all right?” asked Zoe. She hoped the wombat hadn’t been hurt in the fire.

“Yes, she’s fine, love,” replied Lucy. “But I’m going to take her to the zoo hospital to check her over, just to be sure.”

“While you do that, we’ll take this young one to see her new habitat,” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Will you help her 16

to get settled in, Zoe?” “Of course!” said Zoe. She took the young wombat from him and gave her a cuddle. The wombat looked around anxiously. “It’s all right,” Zoe whispered.

“Your mum will be back soon.”

As she followed Great-Uncle Horace and Kieran to the marsupials’ enclosures, she felt excited and anxious. It was lovely to have some wombats at the Rescue Zoo, but she really hoped the mum was OK!

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Chapter Two

A New Home Kieran led them over to a new habitat next to the kangaroo enclosure.

“Zoe, please could you show our new arrival her enclosure while we go and get her some food?” Kieran asked.

“Of course,” Zoe replied eagerly. As Great-Uncle Horace and Kieran set off, she opened the gate to the new enclosure 19

with her silver paw-print pendant. Meep scampered inside, chirping with excitement.

“Oh, I love it in here!” he chirped. “Lots of things to climb, and a place to swim too!”

Zoe took the little wombat into the centre of the habitat and gently placed her on the ground. The edges of the enclosure were lined with trees, and the ground on either side of a small stream sloped up into two low hills.

The wombat glanced this way and that, her nose twitching. Then she looked at Zoe and made a soft grunting sound.

“I’m so pleased you like your new home!” Zoe replied. “My name’s Zoe and this is Meep, my pet mouse lemur.” Meep came running back over and the two animals sniffed each other curiously.

“What’s your name?” asked Zoe. The wombat gave another grunt.

“Winnie! That’s a lovely name,” replied Zoe. But then Winnie dropped her head. She looked really worried.

“What’s wrong?” asked Zoe. The wombat made a shrieking noise.

“Is she OK?” asked Meep.

“She’s worried about her mum,” said Zoe. Winnie gave another shriek.

“Oh!” Zoe exclaimed.

“What is it?” chirped Meep.

“She says she’s worried about her little brother too.”

“What little brother?” chirped Meep.

“Exactly!” Zoe crouched beside Winnie and stroked her head. “Your little brother wasn’t in the animal carrier. There was only you and your mum.” Now Zoe was 22

worried too. Had Winnie’s brother been left in Australia? What if he’d been hurt in the fire?

Winnie made another high-pitched sound.

“He’s in your mum’s pouch?” Zoe sighed with relief.

Winnie nodded her head and grunted.

“She says that wombats are really tiny when they’re born,” Zoe said to Meep.

“So they spend about five months in their mum’s pouch until they’re ready to come out.”

“Cool!” chirped Meep. “I wish you had a pouch I could hide in.”

“Why would you want to hide?” asked Zoe. “Whenever I hear Mr Pinch coming!” replied Meep.

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Zoe grinned. Winnie grunted again.

“The fire must have been really scary,” Zoe said, stroking Winnie’s back. “But you’re all safe now, and your mum and your brother will be joining you really soon.

My mum is just checking that yours is OK.” Thankfully Winnie looked a bit more relaxed at this, and she climbed down from Zoe’s lap.

“What do you think of your new home?” asked Zoe as Winnie began to explore.

The little wombat gave an excited bark.

“She says that she’s really happy there’s lots of space to dig,” Zoe explained to Meep. “Apparently wombats love to make tunnels!”

As Winnie scampered up and down the bank of the stream, Kieran and Great-Uncle Horace returned. Kieran was holding an armful of hay and Great-Uncle Horace had a basket filled with carrots and yams.

When Winnie saw the food she let out an excited shriek.

“Apparently yams are her favourite food,” Zoe whispered to Meep.

“They’re my favourite too,” Meep replied.

“You’ve never had yams.” Zoe frowned.

“So how can you know that they’re your favourite?”

“Food is my favourite thing,” Meep chirped. “And yams are food, so they must be my favourite.”

“Hmm!” Zoe chuckled. She went over to see Kieran and Great-Uncle Horace.

“Someone seems to have settled in very well,” said Great-Uncle Horace as Winnie began munching on a yam.

“Yes, I think Winnie is very happy to be here,” replied Zoe. 26

“What a lovely name you’ve given her,” said Kieran.

Great-Uncle Horace nodded in agreement. “Zoe always chooses great names for the animals.”

Zoe grinned. Sometimes she did help name the animals, but most of the time they simply introduced themselves to her, that was all!

After Winnie had finished her breakfast, Great-Uncle Horace and Kieran had to go to a zookeepers’ meeting.

“We’ll stay and keep Winnie company until Mum brings her mum back,” said Zoe. “Excellent!” said Great-Uncle Horace.

“Thank you,” said Kieran. “You’re such a great help.”

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Zoe beamed with pride. She loved being able to help the zookeepers.

Once they’d gone, she heard a sound from the kangaroo enclosure and turned to see Bouncer hopping over to the fence.

“Hello, Bouncer,” called Zoe. “You have a new neighbour from Australia.”

She brought Winnie over to the fence to meet him and gently put the wombat down.

Bouncer hopped about in a circle with excitement and Meep copied him.

Winnie made a low chuckling sound.

Just then Lucy arrived, but there was no sign of Winnie’s mum. Zoe really hoped she was OK. “Hello, Mum, how’s the other wombat?” asked Zoe. “Why haven’t you brought her?”

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Winnie gave a worried grunt and nuzzled up against Zoe’s leg. Zoe picked up the wombat and held her tight.

“I just need to keep her at the zoo hospital for a couple more days,” replied Lucy.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Zoe looked at her anxiously.

“Nothing’s wrong,” said Lucy. “In fact, I have some news. There’s a baby wombat in her pouch!”

“No way!” exclaimed Zoe, pretending to be surprised. “That’s amazing news. Is the baby OK though?”

“Yes, but I just want to keep an eye on them both to be on the safe side,” replied Lucy. “I’d better get back to the hospital now and give them some food. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Thanks, Mum.” As soon as Lucy had gone, Zoe explained to Winnie what had happened.

Once again Winnie looked worried.

“It’s all right, I promise,” said Zoe. “My mum is taking really good care of them.

And we’re going to take really good care of you, aren’t we?” She looked at Meep.

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“Yes!” chirped Meep, stroking Winnie with his long fluffy tail.

“And while we’re waiting for them to join you, we can get your enclosure ready,” said Zoe. Winnie’s eyes sparkled and she gave an excited bark.

“Yes, of course you can dig lots of new tunnels!” replied Zoe.

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