I’ll be sad when we have to go back home Zoe said It’s pretty awesome here agreed Ben I wish we could stay longer Just then the door slid open The lanky figure of Uncle Stephen appeared He was wearing a white lab coat a straw hat and brightly striped shorts Zoe tried not to giggle at his weird outfit Good job Ben and Zoe their uncle said You’ve passed all your challenges with flying colors so far There’s just one last little test Ben and Zoe shot each other curious glances Their uncle smiled then tossed them a glass eye
Ben snatched it out of the air before Zoe could grab it They both knew what the eye meant They weren’t going home after all because Uncle Stephen had a new rescue mission for them They stared at the eyeball The glass eyes were always little clues about a specific animal that was endangered It’s dark said Ben The pupil is huge Looks like a teddy bear’s eye Zoe said
Uncle Stephen grinned You’re getting close Zoe he said The most endangered bear I can think of is the polar bear said Ben Exactly their uncle said And I’ve got a pair of bears in the Arctic that need your help Come with me to the WILD Control Room Ben and Zoe eagerly followed him along the hallway to the Control Room’s ID reader They both placed their fingertips on the electronic pad Print identification complete said an electronic voice The door opened to reveal the center of WILD HQ It was a brightly lit room filled with operatives all of them seated in front of busy computer screens
Uncle Stephen went over to a computer and opened a website This was posted on a blog today he said It’s from a veterinarian named Theo Airut He lives in an Inupiat community in Fairwood Alaska I often read Theo’s blog entries because he seems like a good man who cares for the animals in Alaska It also keeps me up to date with current events out there Uncle Stephen pointed at the top of the webpage Erika has set the computer to alert us to any problems posted on the blog he said And this entry certainly made the alarm bells ring A local man brought the body of a polar bear into the village today Zoe read aloud How sad Ben scrolled down the entry He had gone on a fishing expedition and a bear attacked him Ben read He had to shoot it to save his own life Then he brought the body back for its fur
