Annie was excited! Mum and dad were taking her and her older brother to the zoo today!

Her older brother was less enthused. "Just a bunch of animals in cages. Too much walking," he grumbled.

"Walking is good for us," Dad said. "No-one walks enough these days."

"Well, that's what they made people movers for, so we don't have to walk," Aaron said.

The zoo was inside some big joined domes. Inside there were plants of all kinds, exotic and rare. Annie and her Mum paused to admire some perfumed roses. "Ah, they smell so sweet!" Annie said. "Just like that soap we have."

"Come on," Aaron said, we should go through the aviary.

Dad bought some little bags of grain and seed mix at the entrance, then they went through the double heavy doors. Birds were already hopping over to see them.

"The little ones are so cute!" Annie said. "What are they, Dad?"

"Hmmm," Dad put his glasses on so he could read the sign, "says here that they are called sparrows. They used to be a common bird where-ever humans lived. They were even living in the cities. Same with those birds making that weird noise, says they are pigeons. In fact, they used to be so common they were considered a pest."

By now some pigeons were balanced on Annie's outstreched arm. 

"Aww, they're so cute! How could they be a pest?"

They carried on from the aviary to where there were some big cages fronted with thick glass. Inside there were a selection of colourful birds, which the sign said used to be kept as pets, until an avian virus wiped most of them out. These birds were kept in isolation. Their keepers had to maintain a strict hygene routine, or these rare examples might be lost for good.

Dad read out the signs. "There are budgies..."

"What a funny name!" Annie giggled,

"...cockatiels, finches, ring-necked parrot, mynahs, and a crow. The crow might be the only one left in the world, but they are searching for more."

"I don't like the crow," Mum said. "It has evil looking eyes."

"Cool bird," Aaron said.

Next they came to a huge playground-looking exhibit, made up of clear pipes and rooms and ladders. "This is where they keep the rats and mice," Dad said. "Now, these I remember when I was a kid. My parents hated them. My parents used to poison them, everyone around us tried to get rid of them."

"It's a pity they were not aware of the environmental damage they were doing," Aaron said sternly. "Didn't they realise that they were pushing these species to the brink of extinction?"

"Yeah," Annie said. "People must have been so ignorant then. Now the only place I can see a rat is in the zoo. And they are soooo cute! Look at that one climbing the ladder!"

"Well, there were so many then," Dad said. "No-one dreamed that we could ever get rid of them all. But then, along came genetic engineered  birth control measures, and the rats died, well, like rats."

'Well, I think it stinks," Aaron said. "Coming to the zoo always puts me in a bad mood."

"At least we can see what's left," Mum soothed. "And the entry fee helps them conserve what's left."

"Now there are the cats," Dad said. "You know, my parents had a very old cat, when I was a kid. One of the last around, back then. It would sit on my lap and purr. I loved that cat."

"People over-did the spaying of the cats. There were too many, then it tipped and there were too few. But the SPCA and the environmentalists kept on promoting the sterilization of cats, and dogs, and suddenly there were none around!" Mum sighed. "My parents had a dog, a cute little white one, with black spots. But he was the only one around too."

They couldn't pat the cats, or the dogs in the next area, as the risk of passing on viruses was too great. The animals clearly loved the attention they got from people tapping the glass, and Annie longed to give each and every one a cuddle.

"When I grow up, I'm going to work at the zoo," she said confidently.

"You'll need to work hard, and get a good degree," her Mum said. "Only the people with the top qualifications can work here."

The walk-through aquarium had exhibits of both fresh water and salt water fish. 

"Says here people used to eat a lot of fish, so most of the big growing fish are extinct."

"I wonder what they tasted like?" Mum said. "Must have been good."

"They look so tiny!" Annie said, "They must have been hard to eat."

"There were bigger ones, silly, Dad just read that to us, You should listen," Aaron snapped.

Last were the farm animals. Annie gazed in wonder at the huge cows, the massive bull, these must have been the biggest creatures in the world! And Dad said they used to make milk and meat for people to eat. 

The sheep looked so soft and fluffy.

The chickens were noisy and funny to watch. The pigs were fat and lazy. There was a strange animal called a goat. A turkey, it made a strange noise, and some ducks that reminded her of some old cartoons she had been watching.

Gift shop last. They sampled some old-fashioned milk, made by the cows. Aaron refused to drink his. "Ew, I'm not drinking stuff that came out of a cow's backside!"

Annie found the taste quite mild, she preferred the sweet vegetable milk that her Mum got from the shop.

Mum bought Annie a squeaky rat, to cuddle at bed-time. Aaron bought some posters with his pocket tokens, a rat, a chart showing the different types of dogs there used to be, and a crow. "The crow looked hard-case," he said. "I hope they find her a mate."

That night, Annie dreamed that she was in a fabulous garden, where there were lots of animals that she could play with. She cuddled her soft rat until it squeaked gently, not enough to wake her up.

Sweet dreams.