The Lucky Snow Leopard Read online

  An enormous cat prowled slowly out of the crate. Dark splodges covered her beautiful white coat. Then they heard a meow. Zoe couldn’t believe her eyes as a second spotty face peeped out of the crate – it was a snow-leopard cub!

  “Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way!” sang Zoe Parker, bursting through the door and dropping her school bag on the floor. “Meep, where are you? I’m home, and school’s finished for Christmas!”

  Zoe’s home was very unusual, and very special. She lived in a little cottage, but it wasn’t on a normal street. It was on the grounds of the Rescue Zoo – and Zoe’s neighbours were the zoo animals!

  There was a happy squeak from the kitchen and Zoe went to see what her best friend was up to. Meep was sitting on the kitchen table, nibbling a mini mince pie. He was a tiny grey mouse lemur, with a long, curly tail and huge golden eyes. Today, his cheeky little face was covered in crumbs! “Meep! I hope you haven’t eaten all the mince pies again,” said Zoe, trying not to laugh.

  “Only two,” chirped Meep happily.“Christmas time is fun. There are so many tasty things to eat!”

  Zoe scooped her friend up for a hug. “Come on, Meep. Mum and the zoo keepers promised to wait until I was back from school before they decorate the Rescue Zoo Christmas tree!”

  “Let’s go!” squeaked Meep excitedly, bouncing out of Zoe’s arms and scampering to the front door.

  Together, the two friends raced through the zoo. The gates had closed early to visitors today so that the zoo staff could help with the decorations, and the path was empty and glittered with frost. The air was cold, and fairy lights were strung along the fences, twinkling like stars. Zoe grinned as she walked along. Everything was starting to feel very Christmassy – especially at the penguin enclosure. This year, the keepers had built a little ice-skating rink next to the penguins’ home, with a wooden hut where visitors could borrow ice-skates.

  Zoe peered over the fence of the enclosure, and called out to the nearest penguin. “Hi, Poppy! Do you know when the ice-skating rink opens?”

  The little penguin waddled up to the fence and squeaked back, flapping her wings eagerly. “Ooh, tomorrow?” said Zoe happily. “I can’t wait to have a go!”

  Poppy put her head on one side and squeaked curiously. “No, I’ve never done it before,” explained Zoe. “I don’t think I’ll be very good, but it looks fun!”

  Poppy waved a wing as Zoe and Meep continued along the path. Zoe couldn’t help grinning as the lions roared to say hello, and the flamingos squawked a friendly greeting. This was the main reason Zoe loved her home at the zoo so much. She knew a very big secret: animals understand every word people say and can talk to them. Most people don’t understand their barks, squeals and grunts – but Zoe did! She had never told anyone, though. It was a special secret between her and her animal friends.

  A few minutes later, Zoe and Meep stopped outside a brand-new enclosure. It wasn’t open yet, and the gate was still boarded up with a big piece of wood. Zoe stood on her tiptoes to peep over the fence, and Meep climbed on to her head to get a better look. “Can you see anything, Meep?” asked Zoe hopefully.

  “It’s very big and I can see some trees and some rocks, but that’s all,” the little lemur chattered.

  Zoe sighed. “I wish we knew what it was for!”

  Not a single person at Rescue Zoo knew what the new enclosure was for. A month ago, a postcard had arrived from Zoe’s Great-Uncle Horace. In his messy handwriting, he’d asked the keepers at the zoo to build it, and explained exactly what it should look like. But he hadn’t said what animal would live there!

  Great-Uncle Horace was the owner of Rescue Zoo. He was a famous explorer, and he’d started the zoo because of all the lost, injured or frightened animals he’d met on his adventures. Now Rescue Zoo was a safe home for any creature in need. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was the zoo vet, and they had lived in their little cottage at the edge of the zoo since Zoe was tiny. Great-Uncle Horace still travelled around the world, and brought new animals back to the zoo whenever he found them. Zoe hoped the mysterious postcard meant he’d be home soon – along with the zoo’s newest member.

  “I wonder what the new animal might be, Meep,” Zoe said, feeling a little bubble of excitement in her tummy. “Imagine if Great-Uncle Horace arrived home over the holidays. That would make this the best Christmas ever!”

  “He might arrive on Christmas Eve, just like Santa Claus!” chirped Meep enthusiastically.

  “I just hope he comes back soon,” Zoe added. “I really miss him.”

  Round the next corner was a grassy clearing where visitors had picnics in the summer. But now, there was an enormous Christmas tree standing right in the middle of it. “Wow,” breathed Zoe, staring up at the tree, which towered above her. “It’s taller than our cottage, Meep. I think that’s the biggest one we’ve ever had!”

  Around it, the zookeepers were unpacking boxes of Christmas decorations. Zoe’s mum, Lucy, was unwinding some tinsel. “There you are, Zoe!” she said, coming over to kiss her daughter’s cheek. “Now we can get started!”

  From the smiling faces around her, Zoe could tell that everyone was feeling very merry. The panda keeper, Stephanie, was walking around with a tray of mince pies, and the giraffe keeper, Frankie, was humming Christmas tunes. Zoe joined in with the song as she hung sparkly baubles on the tree. “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright!”

  “I want to help!” Meep chirped, tugging at the end of Zoe’s scarf.

  Zoe dropped her voice to a whisper so that no one would hear her talking to Meep. “Here,” she said, placing a small, glittery bauble in his tiny paws. “Can you put this high up, where we can’t reach?”

  Meep nodded and scampered up the tree. He hung the bauble on a branch and chattered proudly, just as Lucy glanced up. “Look! Clever Meep’s helping us.”

  “It’s almost as if he understands what to do,” added Stephanie.

  Zoe smiled to herself.

  Finally, there was one decoration left. Zoe’s heart sank as her mum unwrapped a shiny gold star. “Great-Uncle Horace always puts the star at the top of the tree,” she said sadly. “We can’t do it without him.”

  “Nonsense,” snapped a voice behind her. Zoe groaned as Mr Pinch, the horrid zoo manager, marched into the clearing. “I’ll put up the star this year. I am in charge of the zoo while Mr Higgins is away, after all,” he announced importantly. Noticing all the boxes scattered about, he scowled. “Although if you ask me, Christmas makes far too much mess. All that nasty tinsel and wrapping paper everywhere? Ugh! I can’t wait until it’s over and everything’s tidy again.”

  He tucked the gold star in his pocket and started climbing the ladder that the keepers had put next to the tree. Zoe frowned at him. Mr Pinch was always complaining, but she couldn’t believe he was even moaning about Christmas!

  Suddenly, a flash of blue appeared in the sky. It fluttered around the tree, landing gently on the highest branch. “Kiki!” cried Zoe, her heart thumping with excitement.

  Kiki was a beautiful hyacinth macaw, with glossy feathers and a long, curved beak. She belonged to Great-Uncle Horace, and went everywhere with him. “So that means …” began Zoe, looking around eagerly.

  “Hello, everyone! I’m back!” called a jolly voice.

  Zoe and the crowd turned around, and everyone gasped. The Rescue Zoo reindeers, Ronny and Ruthie, were trotting into the clearing. They were pulling a huge sleigh behind them, which had the Rescue Zoo symbol, a colourful hot-air balloon, painted on one side. Tucked inside the sleigh was a large wooden crate, and perched on the front seat was a beaming man with a white beard and a red woolly hat.

  “I see I’m just in time to put the star on the tree! You d
idn’t think I’d miss it, did you?” he called cheerfully.

  “Hooray!” cried Zoe, jumping up and down. “Great-Uncle Horace!”

  As Mr Pinch started climbing back down the ladder, muttering crossly, the crowd rushed over to the sleigh. Zoe had never seen it before! She ran faster than anyone, and Great-Uncle Horace swept her into his arms for a big hug. “Zoe, my dear! I’m so happy to see you. It’s wonderful to be home for Christmas!”

  “This is one of the best presents I could have asked for!” replied Zoe, grinning. “But where have you been? Did you travel all the way on this sleigh?”

  “Kiki and I have come from a very cold place called Mongolia,” Great-Uncle Horace told her. “We got a plane home, but as we came through the zoo gates, we saw some of the keepers unpacking the new Rescue Zoo sleigh. I had it specially built, so that visitors can have Christmas rides around the zoo! Isn’t it splendid? Anyway, I guessed you’d be putting up the tree – so I thought I’d hop in the sleigh and surprise you all. Now – I think I’d better put up that star!”

  He climbed out of the sleigh and Mr Pinch grumpily handed the star over. Everyone watched as Great-Uncle Horace carefully climbed the ladder and fixed the star in place. “Lights, please!” he called down.

  Lucy switched the Christmas lights on, and the crowd cheered. The whole clearing was filled with a warm, cosy glow. Zoe had never seen the zoo look so pretty. “It’s gorgeous!” she breathed.

  When Great-Uncle Horace reached the bottom of the ladder again, he clapped his hands. “Now, I’m sure you’ve all noticed that I’ve brought something home with me,” he announced, nodding to the crate in the back of the sleigh. “And you must have been wondering what the new enclosure is for! Well, now I can show you – if it’s ready?”

  Mr Pinch looked annoyed. “I’d just like to say, Mr Higgins, that this enclosure was very expensive to build. It was extremely difficult to have it finished in time, but we managed to—”

  “So it is finished!” said Great-Uncle Horace. “Excellent! Follow me, everyone.”

  He climbed back into the sleigh and Zoe cuddled up happily next to him, with Meep on her shoulder. Her mind was buzzing as she wondered what the new animal could be. Meep was trying to guess too. “The crate’s very big, Zoe, so the animal inside it must be, too!” he chattered. “Maybe another giraffe? Or another polar bear!”

  “It must be an animal we’ve never had at Rescue Zoo before,” Zoe pointed out in a whisper. “That’s why the new enclosure had to be built!”

  The reindeers trotted along gently, and Zoe could hear from their grunts that they were proud to be pulling the sleigh. In no time, they reached the new enclosure. The zookeepers arrived just behind them, and Great-Uncle Horace asked them to remove the wooden boards that kept it hidden.

  As the enclosure was revealed bit by bit, Zoe gasped. It was enormous, and very beautiful. Tall, craggy rocks stretched high into the air, with a sprinkling of snow at the top. There was a deep, cosy-looking cave tucked into the biggest rock, and a glittering waterfall that poured into a winding little stream.

  “Brrr! It looks chilly in there, Zoe,” squeaked Meep, shivering. “And those rocks look hard to walk on!”

  “Maybe it’s for some mountain goats? Perhaps the crate’s so big because there are lots of them?” Zoe whispered back. “I know they like the cold…”

  Great-Uncle Horace asked for the gates to be opened wide and the crate carried inside the enclosure. Zoe thought it looked very heavy. She held her breath as two of the keepers unlocked the crate and lowered one side of it to the ground. There was a moment of silence as everyone waited.

  Then a pair of huge, creamy-white paws appeared, covered in black spots. An elegant head peered out of the crate and sniffed the air. Very slowly, an enormous cat prowled out. A pattern of dark splodges covered her beautiful, fluffy white coat.

  “Zoe, what’s that?” hissed Meep.

  “A snow leopard!” Zoe said, gasping.

  Great-Uncle Horace leaned towards her, smiling widely. “Did you know, they are also known as ‘the ghost of the mountain’, because they’re so rare?” he whispered.

  Then there was a meow from inside the crate, and the pattering of smaller paws. Zoe couldn’t believe her eyes as a second spotty face peeped out – but this time, it was a snow leopard cub!

  The huge snow leopard stared at the crowd with icy-blue eyes and swished her long, fluffy tail. She bared her sharp teeth and hissed fiercely. Everyone understood that this was a warning to stay away from her and her cub. The smaller snow leopard cub huddled nervously between his mother’s legs. Zoe could tell he wasn’t a brand new baby – he looked maybe three or four months old.

  Zoe’s mum took a cautious step towards the fence, but the snow leopard let out an angry growl and she stopped. “Oh dear, they seem very anxious. I need to check them both over, but maybe I should leave them to settle in today.”

  Great-Uncle Horace nodded wisely. “The poor things have had quite a frightening time,” he explained. “They were living on a lonely, snowy mountain when a farmer moved close by, along with his herd of sheep. The mother was hungry and desperate to feed her cub, so one night she took a sheep for them to eat for their dinner. When the farmer realised one was missing, he was very angry. He would have killed them, if Kiki and I hadn’t rescued them in time.”

  “Maybe that’s why they don’t seem to like people very much?” Zoe said, gazing at the snow leopards.

  “I think you’re right, my dear,” sighed Great-Uncle Horace.

  The cub looked up at Zoe curiously, but his mother prowled to the back of the enclosure, settling down behind the waterfall where she couldn’t be seen. The cub hesitated, and then followed quickly after her.

  I’ll talk to them when no one’s around, Zoe thought. Then they’ll see that we’re all friendly here, and that no one wants to hurt them.

  “Come on, Zoe. I think you’ve had enough excitement for one day,” said Lucy, smiling. “It’s getting late, and there’ll be plenty of time to get the snow leopards settled in over Christmas. Let’s go home for a hot chocolate.”

  “I’ll drop by later,” Great-Uncle Horace promised.

  Zoe couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful snow leopards as she and her mum walked back to the cottage. As they passed the elephant enclosure, she heard a little trumpet. Bertie, the baby elephant, was trying to get Zoe’s attention.

  “I’ll catch up with you, Mum. I, um, left my mittens by the Christmas tree,” Zoe said quickly, shoving her hands into her pockets. She didn’t like not telling her mum the truth, but sometimes it was the only way she could talk to her animal friends.

  “OK, love. Don’t be too long!” Lucy said.

  When her mum was out of sight, Zoe dashed over to the elephant enclosure, with Meep following closely behind her. She reached for the silver paw-print necklace she always wore, and held it against the gate. With a click, the gate swung open. The necklace had been a special present from Great-Uncle Horace, and opened every gate in the zoo!

  Bertie rushed over to them, flapping his ears eagerly, and wrapped his little trunk around Zoe’s waist. He was one of her favourite animals and always liked giving hugs! “You seem even more excited than usual, Bertie,” Zoe laughed, stroking his head. “What are you so happy about today?”

  Bertie let out a trumpet, and Zoe grinned. “It’s almost Christmas, the zoo looks especially pretty, and you saw a big sleigh go past earlier?” she said. “You have had an exciting day, Bertie!”

  Bertie squeaked curiously, and Zoe chuckled. “No, it wasn’t Santa driving the sleigh. It was Great-Uncle Horace! He was coming home with two new animals for the zoo - a gorgeous snow leopard and her cub. I suppose he did look a bit like Santa, with his white beard and red hat! But there are still five sleeps left until Christmas, you know.”

  Bertie let out an impatient sigh, and Zoe smiled. “Listen, Bertie, Meep and I have to go home now. It’s almost our bedtime! And if you go to sleep n
ow, too, it will soon be morning – and then there will only be four more sleeps until Christmas!”

  Bertie’s eyes grew wide, and he nodded eagerly. Zoe and Meep giggled as the little elephant dashed over to the trees he usually slept under, flung himself down on his cosy bed of hay and straw, and closed his eyes tightly. “I think Bertie wants it to be Christmas even more than we do, Meep!” Zoe whispered with a grin.

  “Mum, I’m already wearing a jumper!” laughed Zoe. “I don’t need two!”

  It was the next morning, and Zoe was getting ready for her first try at ice-skating. Her mum had made her eat a big bowl of hot porridge and wrap up in lots of layers. “Put this scarf on, then,” said Lucy, winding it around Zoe’s neck. “You have to stay warm today. Ice-skating is very chilly, and I don’t want you to catch a cold for Christmas!”

  Great-Uncle Horace arrived with a cheerful knock at the door. He was wearing a thick coat with a big, furry hood, and his nose was red from the cold. “You look snug, Zoe! This is my favourite coat for ice-skating. It was a present from an Eskimo. It has lots of useful pockets, so I’ve brought snacks in case we get peckish,” he added, pulling out a custard cream biscuit and crunching it happily.

  “Will the ice-skating rink be busy?” Zoe asked as they walked through the zoo. There were lots of visitors today, wrapped up warm and drinking cups of hot chocolate as they wandered around.

  “Not today! I’ve decided that the rink will just be for zoo staff today, as a special treat,” explained Great-Uncle Horace. “Visitors can try it out from tomorrow.”

  Zoe felt relieved. She was excited about ice-skating, but she was glad it wouldn’t be too crowded for her first try.

  The rink was still empty when they arrived. Zoe stared at it shining in the morning sun. She thought that the perfectly smooth ice looked like a giant mirror. Great-Uncle Horace found a pair of ice-skates in her size and showed her how to lace them tight. “You’re ready! How would you like to be the first person on the ice?” he asked, helping her stand up.