After I left the chimp's pen, I walked over to the polar bears. My older sister, Amanda, is a zookeeper too. She was feeding the polar bears. While the bears were eating, I walked into their pen, a lot of people think I'm crazy, but the polar bears are very nice, especially Alaska, my favorite bear. I've known Alaska since she was 2 weeks old. Alaska was a wild bear, but she had to be brought to the zoo because she had a broken arm. When her arm was better, she couldn't be released into the wild, because she didn't know how to hunt, her mother would of taught her, but since she was raised by humans, she never learned. I picked up some snow and threw it towards Alaska, she likes to play 'Fetch the Snowball.' Alaska chased the snowball, but she couldn't find it. I said good-bye to the bears, and I threw Alaska a fish, that's her favorite snack.

Then I left the pen, my friend Ashley, who is also a Junior Zookeeper, ran up to me. "Jen! Blackie is going to have a baby!", she said. I was so excited, Blackie is my favorite black panther. I ran as fast as I could towards the panthers. Blackie and Jag, the male panther, were swimming in their pond. "Hi, Blackie.", I said. She looked up at me, then she climbed out of the water, and ran towards the fence where I was standing. "You're going to have a baby, Blackie!", I told her. She looked excited. The head Zookeeper, Rosa, walked over to me. "Hi Jen, hi Blackie. Jen, the Albany Zoo has too many Bengal Tigers, they're going to give us two of them." "That's great.", I said, "Where are they going to live?" "Do you remember the Lions that we had a few years ago? Well, the Tigers are going to live in their old pen.", she said. "What are their names?", I asked. "The male's name is 'Tally', and the female's name is 'Taffy'", said Rosa. The Lions old pen was right near the panthers. "Blackie, Jag, you are going to have new neighbors.", I told them.

When Amanda and I got home that day, I told my mom and dad about Blackie, and that we were getting two new Tigers. "I'm going to write a story about it for the paper.", my mom said. Mom works for the Daily Star. That night, before I went to sleep, I put my sketch-book in my backpack. I was going to go to the zoo as soon as I could the next morning, so that I could see the Tigers, and I was going to draw some pictures of them.

The next morning, I woke up at 7:30, when we were done eating breakfast, Amanda and I walked to the zoo. Rosa was at the entrance to the zoo. "Hi Jen, Hi Mandy.", she said. "Hi, Rosa. Have the Tigers arrived yet?", asked Amanda. "No, but they should be here soon.", said Rosa, "The Albany Zoo said the Tigers would come at 8:30." Amanda and I waited with Rosa at the front gate. A few minutes later, a big truck, with the words 'Albany Zoo' on the side, pulled up to us. Rosa walked over to the truck, and talked to the driver for a minute. When she came back to us, she said, "Tally and Taffy are in two transportation crates in the back of the truck. The truck is going to drive around to the back of the zoo, then they're going to drive to the Tiger pen. All I have to do, is open up the doors of the crates." I followed the truck to the Tiger pen. When I first saw Tally and Taffy, I couldn't believe how cute they were. I took my sketch-book out of my backpack, and I drew some pictures of them.

"Tally and Taffy have known each other since they were cubs.", said Rosa, "They might have cubs someday." I sat near the Tigers for about an hour, then Rosa asked me if I could help her feed the Hippos. I said good-bye to the Tigers, then I walked over to the animal food kitchen. I picked up a big watermelon for Rio, my favorite Hippo. I walked over to the Hippos. Rio was sitting right near the gate. "HI, Rio. I brought you a watermelon.", I said. I dropped the melon on the ground, it broke into tiny pieces. Rio drank all the juice, then he walked over to Rosa, she had apples, that's one of Rio's favorite foods.

I walked over to the Tiger pen, Tally was swimming in their pond. I couldn't find Taffy, though. She was probably sleeping. A few minutes later, Taffy walked out of the cave. She walked over to where I was standing near the fence. "Hi, Taffy. Those are your new neighbors.", I said, and I pointed over to Blackie and Jag, "Their names are 'Blackie' and 'Jag'. Blackie is going to have a cub, so you're going to have another neighbor." I reached through the fence and petted Taffy, she licked my hand. "I'll be right back.", I told her. I walked to the animal food kitchen, Amanda was there. "Hi, Amanda. I'm getting some meat for Taffy.", I said. "Jen, after you give the meat to Taffy, could you help me feed Blackie and Jag?", she asked. "Sure.", I said. I picked up a piece of chicken and walked back to the Tigers. "Hi, Taffy, I brought you some meat.", I said. She ate the meat, I said good-bye to her, then I walked over to the Panthers. Amanda was there. I helped her feed the Panthers. "Amanda, I just got a great idea!", I said, "Since Blackie is going to have a baby, we should have a baby shower!" "That's a good idea, you should go ask Rosa.", Amanda told me.