Life at the zoo was boring with so few visitors. There wasn’t much to do except eat and poo. Some animals had developed bad habits: All Sally the civet cat did was hiss and spit; the plucky skunk, Skipper, got drunk; Gerald, the giraffe, just laughed; and Jim, the ingenious gnu from Timbuktu, was in trouble for blowing bubbles. 

When Ken, the keeper, caught a chronic cough and was kept cosily coddled in his cottage, they saw their chance to be off.

“Let’s high-tail it!” said Gerald, laughing.

“I’ll moosey on out of here.” Mo stamped two hooves decisively.

“Let’s vamoose!” urged gormless Gavin, the useless goose.

“We otter get away!” said Otto, doing quick gymnastics in his cool, blue pool.

Doug, the ugly monkey, threw fruit. “You’re all nuts.”