The Baby Otter Rescue (Animal Adventure Club 2) by Michelle Sloan

Author:Michelle Sloan [Michelle Sloan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782506188
Publisher: Floris Books
Published: 2019-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Take it steady,” said Gracie to Isla, now following behind. “At least if you fall off here, you’ll only land in mud.”

By the time Isla made it across, Gracie was staring intently at the ground.

“What have you found?” Isla asked.

“Otter tracks again,” Gracie said, turning to look at Isla with a beaming smile. “You were right, Isla! There is another otter. And it’s been here.”

They both knelt down to look at the paw prints in the squidgy mud. Isla knew what to look for now, so she peered closely and counted the toeprints. Sure enough, each footprint was made up of five small ovals and the main pad.

But hang on a minute… she thought.

“Gracie, these are small: they’re the same size as the tracks up by your house.”

Gracie looked at Isla, her eyes widening. “Another cub?”

Isla nodded. “I think so.”

“Wow!” Gracie whispered. “Two otter cubs! Let’s follow these prints.”

The two girls began to track the otter cub around the western side of Loch Dooey, being careful to stay back from the dangerous watery edge.

“This is strange,” said Gracie. “The footprints go forwards then backwards again.”

“The poor little thing is probably confused,” said Isla. “And starving too.”

A sudden noise startled them. They looked up as a large bird lifted its long, elegant body and soared into the steel-grey sky.

“It’s a heron!” said Isla.

“He’s dropped something,” said Gracie, pointing to a shiny shape on the ground. “Look, it’s a fish. Hey, Mr Heron!”

“He’ll come back for it soon,” said Isla.

They were just passing the remains of the old Roman fort when Isla grabbed Gracie by the hand. “Listen!”

Gracie stopped and grinned. “Is that what I think it is?”

“That’s the sound I thought I heard this morning!” Isla cried. “It’s definitely an otter cub.”

The girls stood very still, listening and peering all around.

“There!” Gracie cried, pointing back towards the flooded Boggy Burn. The tiny otter cub was walking around, bewildered and yelping. Its long tail dragged along the ground. It was near the edge of the flooded wooden bridge that crossed the burn.

Isla looked through her binoculars. “It’s the exact colour and size of our cub. I think it’s his twin!”

“Wow! Double cuteness!” said Gracie.

“Double trouble more like!” said Isla. “This cub must have wandered further up the river from your house and ended up here.” The girls began to walk slowly towards the bridge.

“So where’s their mum?” asked Gracie.

“Mmm,” said Isla, stopping a safe distance from the flood and the baby otter. “I’m not sure what happened, but I think they’re orphans now.”

“What should we do?” asked Gracie, and then she gasped. “Oh no! The cub looks like it’s panicking! It’s going to try to cross the burn!”

Sure enough, the tiny otter was taking steps towards the flooded bridge.

“One wrong move and the poor wee thing will be washed into the water,” warned Isla. “It can’t swim, remember!”

The otter cub turned and began to mew at Isla.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.