The Picky Puffin Read online

  Zoe pulled back a corner of the blanket. Inside the bundle was a tiny bird with a stripy orange and white beak and bright-orange webbed feet. It was an adorable baby puffin!

  Zoe Parker smiled as the school bell rang. It was Friday afternoon and the end of lessons for the week. Zoe couldn’t wait for the weekend to start!

  “I’d like to set you all some homework to do over the weekend,” explained Zoe’s teacher, Miss Hawkins, as Zoe and her class packed away their pencils and books. “I want you all to do a project on something you love. You can pick anything – a place you like visiting or even your favourite thing to eat. I want to read all about it, and find out why you love it so much.”

  Zoe’s heart leapt. Miss Hawkins always set her class really fun projects – and Zoe already had an idea of what she could write about!

  “What are you going to do your project on?” asked Zoe’s friend Nicola as they walked out into the playground together.

  Zoe grinned. “An animal, of course!” she replied. “I just don’t know which animal. It’s so hard to choose.”

  Zoe thought she was the luckiest girl in the world, because she lived at a very special zoo! Her Great-Uncle Horace was a famous animal expert and had started the Rescue Zoo years ago to give homes to animals who could no longer live in the wild. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was the zoo vet. Zoe thought her home was the most special place to live. She spent all her spare time with the animals and helping the zoo keepers with their jobs. One day she wanted to be a zoo keeper herself.

  What animal shall I do my project on? she thought as she walked home with her mum. I love elephants, tigers and pandas… And I really like wolves, peacocks and puffins too. And then there are the hippos, the bats and the gorgeous polar bears. And grey mouse lemurs, of course!

  Zoe’s best friend at the zoo was a tiny grey mouse lemur named Meep, who had big golden eyes, soft, silky fur and a long tail. He didn’t live in an enclosure like all the other animals, but with Zoe and her mum in their little cottage at the edge of the zoo instead. He was small and cute, and could be very cheeky.

  Zoe shook her head. There were too many animals to choose from! Maybe I’ll have a good idea when I get back to the Rescue Zoo, she thought to herself.

  As Zoe and her mum were finishing their plates of spaghetti that evening, the phone rang. Zoe jumped up and answered it. “Hello?”

  “Zoe!” cried a familiar voice. “It’s me – Great-Uncle Horace.”

  “Where are you?” asked Zoe eagerly. “Are you still travelling around Iceland?”

  Although Great-Uncle Horace had started the zoo, he spent most of his time travelling around the world, helping out animals who were lost, poorly or in danger. He sent Zoe lots of postcards from his adventures, and sometimes he brought a new animal back to the zoo if it was in urgent need of help, to give it a safe and special home.

  “Actually, Zoe, I’m on my way back to the Rescue Zoo right now – and I have an animal emergency. Can I have a quick word with your mum?” asked Great-Uncle Horace. He sounded very serious.

  Zoe passed the phone to her mum and waited as Lucy spoke into the phone in a low, urgent tone. “We’ll be there right away,” she said, then hung up the phone and grabbed her coat. “Come on, Zoe. We’ll have to do the washing up later.”

  Zoe quickly scooped up Meep, who’d been nibbling a banana on the chair next to hers. She pulled on her coat and followed her mum outside. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To the river,” Lucy replied. “Great-Uncle Horace is sailing back to the zoo in the Rescue Zoo boat and we’re going to meet him there.”

  Zoe wanted to ask what the animal emergency was, but her mum was walking quickly ahead. She turned to Meep. “What do you think’s happening?” she asked him. Zoe didn’t just love animals. She had a very special secret: she could talk to them too! It made living at the Rescue Zoo even more amazing. No one else knew about her unusual gift though – not even her mum or Great-Uncle Horace.

  Meep shook his head. “I don’t know, Zoe,” he chirped. “Maybe he’s found a penguin with a sore flipper?”

  “I think it sounds more serious than that, Meep,” replied Zoe. “Come on!”

  She caught up with her mum and raced alongside her, with Meep holding tightly to her shoulder. They ran past the giraffes, the lions and the pandas, and took a shortcut down to the river, which ran right past the zoo.

  As they arrived, panting, Great-Uncle Horace’s boat pulled into sight. The Rescue Zoo symbol – a bright red hot-air balloon – was painted on its sail.

  Zoe’s heart started beating fast as she saw Great-Uncle Horace up on the deck. Normally he looked so happy and jolly, but now he seemed very worried indeed. She wondered what animal he was bringing back to the zoo, and what was wrong. Would it be very badly hurt, or frightened? I just hope we can help! she thought, crossing her fingers for luck.

  Great-Uncle Horace steered the boat towards the bank and threw out a rope to Lucy, who quickly tied it to a post on the bank so that it wouldn’t float away. Then he stepped on to land. An elegant blue bird with a curved yellow beak sat on his shoulder. It was Kiki, Great-Uncle Horace’s hyacinth macaw, who went everywhere with him. Great-Uncle Horace was holding a small wooden box, and inside the box was a shivering bundle wrapped in a blanket.

  “What is it?” asked Zoe. On her shoulder, Meep leaned forward for a better look.

  Great-Uncle Horace smiled at Zoe and pulled back a corner of the blanket. Inside the bundle was a small bird with a stripy orange and white beak and bright-orange webbed feet. It blinked up at Zoe nervously. The bird’s feathers were covered in patches of something sticky and dark.

  “Is it a baby puffin?” Zoe asked.

  Great-Uncle Horace nodded. “She is indeed. Or rather, she’s a puffling. That’s what baby puffins are called. She’s only a couple of months old. I found her on my travels around Iceland. More than half the puffins in the world live there. But I’m afraid she got herself into a sticky situation, as you can see.”

  Zoe looked at the dark splotches on the puffling’s body. “What’s on her feathers?” she asked. “Is it mud?”

  Great-Uncle Horace shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid it’s oil, Zoe,” he explained. “A big container of oil leaked into the ocean very close to where this puffling lived. It ruined the homes of many puffins. When I found this little one, she was all alone and in great danger. I tried to get as much of the oil from her feathers as I could but, as you can see, she needs another wash.”

  “Let’s get her to the zoo hospital,” said Lucy, taking the box. “Come on!”

  They ran back through the zoo and past the meerkat enclosure, where a family of curious meerkats popped their heads up to look as they all rushed past. When they got to the zoo hospital, Lucy quickly unlocked the door and led them all inside.

  “We need to clean the oil off the puffling,” Lucy explained. “Uncle Horace, please can you fetch some washing-up liquid from the cupboard?”

  Great-Uncle Horace gently placed the puffling, still wrapped in its blanket, on the worktop and hurried into the store cupboard. The puffling’s bright, stripy beak peeked out over the top of the blanket and it gave a sad little cheep.

  Zoe stared after Great-Uncle Horace. “Washing-up liquid?” she said, puzzled.

  Lucy, who was filling a basin with warm water at the sink, nodded. “It may sound strange, but washing-up liquid is a really good way to clean birds or other animals who have been affected by oil spills,” she told Zoe. “You’ll see.”

  The puffling let out another frightened squeak. Quickly, Zoe picked up the little bird and gave it a cuddle. As her mum and Great-Uncle Horace poured washing-up liquid into the basin and mixed up a soapy, bubbly mixture, she took it aside and
whispered quietly in its ear, “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe here, I promise! I’m Zoe, and this is Meep.”

  “Hello!” squeaked Meep from Zoe’s shoulder. “What’s your name?”

  The tiny puffling cheeped weakly.

  “Piper! That’s a lovely name,” Zoe whispered.

  “Zoe, we’re ready to clean the puffling now,” called Lucy.

  Zoe carried Piper over to the basin full of warm soapy water.

  “We’re going to give her a bath!” Lucy explained. “Lower her in very carefully, Zoe.”

  Zoe did so, whispering encouragingly to the little puffin, who shivered nervously. Then Lucy showed Zoe how to gently rub the oil out of each feather, one by one.

  “What would happen if we left the oil in her feathers?” asked Zoe.

  Great-Uncle Horace looked sad. “She’d become very ill indeed,” he said. “She might even die. You see, like lots of birds, puffins use their beaks to keep their feathers clean. It’s called ‘preening’. This baby has already tried to clean the oil from her feathers with her beak, and she’s accidentally swallowed some of the oil. That’s why she’s so weak – it’s given her a very poorly tummy.”

  “Poor little puffling,” Zoe said gently, stroking another feather clean. “Having a poorly tummy is horrid.”

  “Puffins also use their feathers to keep themselves warm,” Lucy added. “But if they get oil stuck in them they stop working properly and the puffins can become very cold. That’s why Great-Uncle Horace had to rush back from his trip. It was so important to get all the oil out of the puffling’s feathers quickly.”

  Zoe nodded. It was even more serious than she had thought. “So once she’s nice and clean again, she’s going to feel lots better?” she asked.

  “That’s right!” Lucy replied with a smile.

  Zoe gazed down at the tiny bird, who was quietly cheeping. “She’s very lucky you found her, Great-Uncle Horace. And we’re lucky too – she’s so sweet.”

  “She is very sweet,” agreed Great-Uncle Horace, smiling at the puffling. “I must admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for puffins.”

  “I love puffins too!” Zoe grinned. “In fact, they might be one of my favourite animals of all.” Suddenly an idea popped into her head. “I know! I’m going to do my school project on her.”

  “School project?” asked Great-Uncle Horace, as Meep gave a puzzled squeak from Zoe’s shoulder.

  Quickly, Zoe explained that she had to write a project on something she loved. “I knew I wanted to write about an animal – but I couldn’t decide which animal I liked best. Now I’ve decided – I’ll write about the puffling!”

  Meep jumped off Zoe’s shoulder with a squeal and scampered over to the other side of the room. “What are you doing, Meep?” Zoe asked. But she was distracted by the puffling, who opened her little beak and managed a louder cheep.

  “It sounds like she’s feeling stronger already!” Great-Uncle Horace said, looking very pleased.

  “Time to get her dried off,” said Lucy, fetching a large fluffy towel from the store cupboard.

  Zoe lifted the bird out of the water and passed her to Lucy, who gently rubbed her dry. Zoe stroked the puffling’s snowy-white tummy. It looked so much better now the splotches of oil were gone.

  “She looks so cute,” Zoe said. “I love the black feathers on top of her head – it looks like she’s wearing a cap.”

  Lucy laughed. “Yes, it does.”

  Zoe helped Lucy arrange some warm, thick blankets into a nest in a quiet corner of the hospital and put Piper in the middle.

  “We’ll let her get some rest and come back in the morning,” said Lucy.

  “Goodnight, Piper!” whispered Zoe as she left the hospital. “See you tomorrow!”

  Later that night, as Zoe got into her stripy tiger pyjamas, she couldn’t stop talking about the puffling. “Her beak is so beautiful, Meep. I love the stripes!” she said. “And did you see her orange feet? And her cute little black eyes. They looked just like shiny buttons. I think she might be the sweetest animal who’s ever come to the Rescue Zoo!”

  “I’m really glad Great Uncle Horace managed to rescue her,” Meep said, wriggling under the bedcovers.

  “Me too,” said Zoe, snuggling in beside him.

  “I won’t ever get oil in my fur, will I, Zoe?” Meep asked.

  “Oh, Meep, no of course not. Oil spills only happen in the middle of the ocean.” She cuddled the little lemur tight. “You’re not planning on moving out to sea, are you?”

  “Definitely not!” Meep exclaimed. “I don’t like getting wet!”

  Zoe smiled and then switched off the lamp beside her bed. “Let’s go to sleep.” She was feeling really tired now – and the sooner tomorrow came, the sooner she could visit Piper!

  “Goodness, Zoe! You’re up early,” said Lucy as she walked into the kitchen the next morning.

  Zoe was sitting at the kitchen table with a big sheet of paper spread out in front of her and a pack of coloured pencils scattered around. “I woke up early and I was too excited to go back to sleep,” she explained. “I wanted to start my school project straight away. Do you like it?”

  Lucy came over to look. Zoe had drawn Piper the puffling in the middle of the sheet of paper. She had spent lots of time adding each feather on the puffling’s body with her sharpest black pencil. Around the puffling were lots of brightly coloured hearts with facts about puffins written inside them. The biggest heart was right above the puffling’s head, and Zoe had written PIPER inside it.

  “Wow, Zoe, it looks fantastic!” Lucy said. “Is Piper the name you’ve chosen for the puffling?”

  “Er, yes,” said Zoe. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s lovely,” said Lucy.

  “When can we go and visit Piper, Mum?” Zoe asked. “I want to see how she is this morning.”

  “Let’s have some breakfast first,” Lucy said, going over to the kettle.

  Meep scampered on to the table, holding half of a banana that he was chewing for his breakfast. There were bits of soggy banana around his mouth too – Meep was a very messy eater! “Zoe, you’ve been doing your project for ages and I’m bored. Let’s play!” he squeaked, hopping up and down.

  Zoe smiled at her little friend. “In a minute, Meep,” she whispered, being careful not to let her mum hear. “I just need to finish colouring in the puffling’s feathers.”

  She reached for a black colouring pencil but cheeky Meep jumped in her way, sticking his tongue out. Zoe couldn’t help giggling. Meep loved to be the centre of attention. But as Meep scampered around the table, Zoe realised he was leaving banana paw-prints all over her project!

  “Stop it, Meep!” she said, moving the sheet of paper away quickly. “Look at what you’ve done to my project.” She grabbed a tissue from a box on the table, trying to clean the banana off the paper. “Oh, Meep. I’ve been working so hard on this all morning and now it looks really messy.”

  Meep slipped under the table as Zoe wiped the banana off her project. “I’d better leave it to dry,” she said, placing it carefully near the radiator. “I’ll do some more later on, when we come back from visiting Piper.”

  After breakfast, Lucy agreed that it was time to pay the little puffin a visit. “Let’s hope her poor tummy’s feeling much better today,” she said. “At least we managed to get the last of the oil from her feathers so she should be nice and warm again.”

  As Zoe walked through the zoo with her mum and Meep, animals called out to her from either side of the path. Everyone at the Rescue Zoo always loved hearing about new arrivals, since almost every animal at the zoo had once been rescued by Great-Uncle Horace!

  “Who did Great-Uncle Horace bring to the zoo last night?” Oscar the African elephant trumpeted as they walked past his enclosure.

  “Is it another hippo?” Hetty the hippo asked.

  “Please let it be another hippo,” Henry the hippo called from the pool at the centre of their enclosure. “I could teach
it how to dive.”

  Zoe just smiled and shook her head. She couldn’t answer them properly in front of her mum or the trickle of early morning visitors already at the zoo. They’d think she was crazy! Then she had a great idea. If she just talked loudly about the puffling to her mum all the way to the hospital, the other animals would overhear and know what was going on.

  “So, Mum,” she said loudly. “Isn’t it exciting to have a NEW BABY PUFFIN at the zoo?”

  “Yes, Zoe, it is,” Lucy replied.

  “It’s a puffin,” she heard Oscar trumpet.

  “Ah, a puffin,” Henry said, before splashing back underwater.

  As they walked past the panda enclosure Chi Chi and Mei Mei came scampering over.

  “Has someone new moved into the zoo?” Chi Chi asked.

  “Is it a panda?” Mei Mei asked shyly.

  “I just can’t believe a A NEW BABY PUFFIN has come to stay,” Zoe said to her mum loudly.

  Lucy stared at her. “Yes, it is very exciting. But there’s no need to shout about it.”

  Oh yes there is! Zoe thought to herself.

  By the time the hospital came into view Zoe’s voice was hoarse and her mum probably thought she was crazy but at least the other animals knew about the new addition to the zoo.

  “Oh, the door’s unlocked,” Lucy said, pushing it open.

  “Maybe Great-Uncle Horace got up early too,” Zoe said. But as soon as they walked in, her heart sank. Standing by the puffling’s bed, holding a clipboard and a pen, was the zoo manager, Mr Pinch. He was always dressed in a spotless zoo uniform, with not even a speck of dust to be seen. His polished shoes were shining and, as usual, he was frowning. Piper the puffling was huddled nervously in her nest of blankets. Her bright, stripy beak the only part of her that was visible.