Mat Gardener

Olly's Zoo Mat Gardener

Taken from the "DREAMTIME" series, this particular story is about Olly's local zoo. During a series of dreams, Olly imagines himself taking some of the animals out on a series of very funny and exciting adventures. The story ends with Olly going to see where zoo animals come from and he learns what an important job zoo parks do in protecting endangered species. With a strong conservation message, this story aims to show young readers how important it is to support zoos and wildlife parks which offer sanctuary to the worlds' most endangered animal species. It also shows how such sites offer important breeding opportunities so that colonies of the animals can be re-established in their original habitat, once conditions allow. During the latter part of the story, habitat destruction is illustrated very clearly in order to make young readers'/listeners conscious of how rainforests and the other areas where the animals normally live, are being destroyed at an alarming rate.