Hairy Hezekiah

A worthy addition to Dick King-Smith’s extensive output of animal stories, Hairy Hezekiah is a camel living a sad solitary life in a zoo. To remedy this, he slips through the main gates to look for a mate.

Creating mayhem in the countryside as he searches, Hezekiah eventually reaches a safari park, where an instant rapport with the hirsute aristocratic owner results in the arrival of Hephzibah to share his life.

Funny, informative and likely to provoke discussion about the relative merits of zoos and wild animal parks, King-Smith invites readers to debate the ethics of intervention in the lives of animals, and the form it should, or should not take. Hairy Hezekiah offers considerable potential for individual or class reading.