The zoo was asleep,
As the rain poured down.
“It won’t stop falling.”
The zookeeper frowned.
He locked the last cage,
As the sky lost its light.
“Stay dry, my sweet friends.
I’ll be back after night.”
It rained, and it rained.
And it rained some more.
The giraffes woke up
With water on the floor.
They peeked out their window,
And saw quite a sight.
The zoo had been flooded
On that dark, stormy night.
“What should we do?”
Asked giraffe number one.
“Should we yell? Should we swim?
Should we eat? Should we run?”
“We must save the others!”
Yelled giraffe number two.
“Let’s break through these walls,
And rescue the zoo!”
The giraffes used their legs,
Long necks and knobby knees.
They burst through the doors
Out to the monkey trees.
The monkeys woke up
To quite a surprise,
“A flood!” they all gasped,
As they opened their eyes.
“A flood?!” said gorilla,
As a fish swam by.
“We must save elephant.
I can hear her cry.”
“Thank you, oh thank you!”
The elephant cried.
“Go rescue the turtles,
They’re all trapped inside.”
Sweet elephant, monkeys,
Giraffes, gorilla, too,
Swam through the flood
To rescue the zoo.
The turtles were floating,
“We all feel just fine.
Go help other animals.
There’s so little time.”
Chinchillas and goats,
Meerkats, three-toed sloths,
Lions and tigers,
Butterflies and moths.
Camels and leopards,
Eagles and cats,
Reptiles, ostriches,
Dingoes and bats.
The elephant moved
A tree with her trunk,
She made a big bridge
Before everyone sunk.
They went to the hippos,
Who floated up high.
The water had filled
Their tank to the sky.
The tank burst open.
The hippos went through.
Up, up over the fence.
Up, up over the zoo.
The animals scattered.
They knew what to do.
They all worked together
To rescue the zoo!
They talked to the beavers,
Gathered branches and mud.
They built a big dam
That could stop the whole flood.
The zookeeper returned,
Surprised when he found
The zoo huddled together,
Upon a dry mound.
Penguins, hyenas,
Big hippos, bears, too,
All safe and sound
In the very wet zoo.
The True Story
In June 2013, the Calgary Zoo in Alberta flooded. As the waters began to rise, zookeepers scrambled to get all the animals to safety. Sparky and Lobi, the zoo’s hippos, floated up over their tank and were rescued just in time.
