Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos Read Online Free PDF Page A

cabinets in zoo shops on March 3rd is there aren’t any ice creams in them.

    There isn’t anything in them at all! Apart from cold air.
    The lady behind the counter said ice creams were out of season and they wouldn’t be getting any in until Easter.
    So we had to have sweets instead.
    The trouble with sweets is you’re not allowed to feed them to the animals.

    I saw some white-nosed coatis who really looked like they wanted a Tic-Tac, but Mum said all the animals in the zoo were on carefully controlled diets that didn’t include Tic-Tacs, Refreshers or Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
    I said if they liked fruit, they were bound to like strawberryHubba Bubba, but Mum gave me one of her looks and said if we couldn’t control our sweets, then we would have to put them in her handbag for safekeeping.
    Then she looked at her watch.
    IT WAS TIME TO FEED THE PENGUINS!

Chapter 13
    My heart was beating really fast when we arrived at the penguin house. Mum said hers was too, but that was because she isn’t used to running.
    When we got there, a zoo man in a brown uniform with a zoo badge on it was waiting for us by the gate.
    â€œAre you Daisy?” he asked.
    â€œYes!” said my mum, pointing to me. “Sorry we’re late!”
    â€œThat’s fine,” said the zoo man. “My name’s Tim. Happy birthday, Daisy! Would you like to feedthe penguins?”
    â€œYES, PLEASE!” I said.
    â€œThen come with me,” said Tim, “and I’ll introduce you to Tiffany.”
    I thought Tiffany was going to be the penguin leader. But she wasn’t. She was a zoo lady. Tiffany had a brown uniform with a zoo badge too, plus she was wearing Wellingtons. That’s because everyone who’s an expert on penguins wears Wellingtons.
    Mum asked me if I wanted her to come with me, but I said no because she wasn’t wearing Wellingtons.
    The trouble with not wearing Wellingtons is penguins won’t really like you.

    So I told Mum it would probably be better if she went to sit with Gabby and Dylan. You can still watch penguins being fed if you haven’t got Wellingtons, and they will still like you a bit. But not as much, because they’re only liking you through the glass.

    Mum took Gabby and Dylan into the bit behind the glass where they could sit and watch me and the penguins, and then Tiffany held my hand.
    Then my heart started beating EVEN FASTER because I was actually going in!
    Right in!! Into the penguin house. With the actual penguins!!!!!!!
    First of all we went down a slope, then up a bit to a gate that had two padlocks and two bolts on it. Tiffany undid the padlocks and then opened the gate. I couldn’t see any penguins at first becauseTiffany’s zoo shirt was in the way. But when we walked right inside through the gate, there were penguins all over the place!
    Plus there was a baby penguin too!

Chapter 14
    The trouble with baby penguins is they can’t really do very much. Except sort of stand still.

    Tiffany said that baby penguins don’t get their proper feathers until they are about six months old, which means they can’t swim around like their mummies and daddies can.
    Mummy and daddy penguins havespecial swimming feathers that keep water out and stop them getting soggy. Baby penguins don’t have proper feathers at all. All baby penguins have is fluff.
    Which doesn’t keep water out.
    But it does make them look reeeeaaaaallly cute.
    Tiffany knew loads about penguins. When she was opening the penguin cupboard, she said there were eighteen different types of penguin in the world. Not including the chocolate biscuit ones.
    The ones we were going to feed were called Humboldt penguins.Which isn’t a very good name for a type of penguin, I think.
    Plus it’s really hard to spell.
    Anyway, when the mummy and daddy penguins saw Tiffany openthe cupboard, they started jumping off the rocks and diving into the pool. Then they