The Injured Fox Cub Read online

Carefully Heidi tested the movement in Bruno’s shoulder joint. “Yes,” she confirmed. “He’s probably going to need keyhole surgery to fix it.”

  “What happened? Did somebody dump him?” Eva asked.

  Joel nodded.

  “Your dad found him on the outskirts of town, where the railway bridge crosses the road. We think he got pushed over the edge and landed on the grass verge.”

  “And will he be OK?” Suddenly their exciting story about rescuing Tigger didn’t seem half so important.

  Her mum nodded. “He should be fine. He’s been very lucky. There’s a name tag on his collar, but no phone number. He’s not microchipped either, so it’ll be hard to trace the owner.”

  “Poor Bruno!” Eva murmured. Inside, she boiled with anger over the idea that anyone could shove this beautiful dog off a bridge. She stood back as Joel prepared a painkilling injection.

  The dog whimpered again and raised his head.

  Karl frowned. “Can I enter him on the website?” he asked.

  “Go ahead, put his details up,” Heidi said. She took the syringe from Joel and stroked Bruno’s ears. “‘Golden Lab, male, about four years old. A lovely dog who likes people.’”

  Nodding, Karl disappeared into the office and sat at the computer. He typed quickly then came back to take a photo of Bruno to put on the site.

  “Where’s Dad?” Eva asked.

  “Outside, putting the finishing touches to the stables,” her mum told her. “Can’t you hear him hammering?”

  Yes, the stables! The very word cheered Eva up.

  Animal Magic was about to open its doors to bigger unwanted animals such as horses, ponies and goats, as well as the dogs, cats and rabbits they already looked after. A team of volunteers had given up their time to convert a cowshed in the corner of the old farmyard. By this time next week the stables would be ready.

  “I’ll go and help!” she decided, escaping from the surgery and across the yard to join her dad.

  Copyright

  STRIPES PUBLISHING

  An imprint of Little Tiger Press

  1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road, London SW6 6AW

  First published as an eBook by Stripes Publishing in 2016

  Text copyright © Jenny Oldfield, 2006, 2016

  Inside Illustrations copyright © Artful Doodlers, 2016

  Cover illustration copyright © Anna Chernyshova, 2016

  Images courtesy of www.shutterstock.com

  eISBN: 978-1-84715-830-7

  The right of Jenny Oldfield and Artful Doodlers to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved.

  Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  littletiger.co.uk