Sven and the Mysterious Nutrition Kitchen

By Robert Amrhein, Keeper III Ambassador Animals
Illustrations by Summit St. John, Ambassador Animals Intern

One day two, fluffy, sheep best friends were just waking up from their afternoon nap and were thinking about what to do. That’s when Sven, a young excitable sheep, had an amazing idea!

“Benson!” Sven exclaimed to his silly little best friend, “I’ve found an amazing adventure for us today.”

“That’s great!” said Benson, “We always have the best adventures. I just need to go get my favorite coat.” Benson’s favorite coat was just covering himself in hay, his favorite snack as well.

“Now that you are ready, my adventure is for us to go where the food comes from. Haven’t you ever wondered where all this food is before our keeper friends give it to us?” Sven pondered to Benson.

“Nope! I’ll still come with you though because you are my friend and I love you.”

 

So, Sven and Benson took off from the Petting Zoo with a dream in mind to find the mysterious place the food comes from.

Their first stop was where the elephants lived. When asked if this is where the food comes from, Kelly the elephant replied, “Oh honey this may look like your food, but you’ve gotten all turned around. Try heading that way.” With a thank you and a point with her trunk, the two fluffy boys were on their way.

Sven and Benson walked for a while until they stopped next to the Aldabra tortoise home. “Is this where the food comes from?” They asked. “No, silly sheep,” Shuffles the tortoise replied, “There would need to be a lot more hay here if I was supposed to share!” Determined to find the mysterious food place, our silly sheep continued.

The next stop was where the gorillas lived. Sven and Benson asked the leader of the troop, Taz, for help. Taz opened one eye from his comfortable bed and said, “Can’t help. Sorry.” Benson and Sven pressed on.

As they were walking away, Benson heard a scream! So, they quickly ran to where they heard the noise and found a couple of macaws high up sitting on a branch. “Excuse me, have you two heard a scream?” Sven questioned. “Oh yeah, I was just excited for my dinner,” replied Miguel the macaw. “Great! Is this where we find dinner?” Sven exclaimed. “We certainly could share,” Miguel replied, “As long as you can make it up here where we are.” Understanding the dilemma, the sheep continued.

Starting to feel discouraged, our sheep stopped around the Complex Carnivore area. Benson didn’t want his friend to feel so down, though, so he grew the courage to ask one more time. Trotting up to a tiger, Benson asked, “Excuse me miss, do you know where the food comes from?” Chelsea the tiger sniffed the air and said,” No but you sure do smell like it.” Benson got a bad feeling and told Sven to book it out of there!

Coming through a clearing, Sven and Benson got tired and stopped. When they looked up, they both immediately knew they had found it! The Animal Nutrition Kitchen! As excited as can be, they ran up to the nearest worker. “Have we found where the food comes from?” They yelled at the worker. “Well sure you have, friends, but don’t you know that I’ll just be bringing you more tomorrow?” The friendly kitchen worker answered. “Yep! Thank you for working so hard to keep us in perfect health!” The enthusiastic sheep replied, “Now do you know how we get home?”

An exhausted keeper ran up to Sven and Benson just then. “Sven! Benson! There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you. I’ve heard you’ve both been on quite an adventure,” the keeper managed to blurt out between breaths. “We sure did, and now we are ready for dinner,” Sven replied. And so Sven and Benson made their way back to the petting zoo and celebrated another mystery solved with a delicious meal of Bermuda hay.