A few months ago, my class and I started reading a chapter book called Squirm. It’s by Carl Hiaasen and it was published in 2018. The book is about a 13-year-old boy, Billy Dickens. He’s a big snake lover and loves to learn all about them. Our class decided to follow Billy’s path. We each chose an endangered animal and learned as much as we could about them! My animal was the African wild dog. For a few weeks I learned as much as I could about this unique animal! I learned about their diets, their hunting strategies, their pack habits and what’s endangering them. After I learned all about them, I started writing my story! It took me a while and I had lots of mistakes and bumps along the way, but I’m proud of how it turned out! Here is my story,
African Wild Dog
By Saige
My pack and I stalk low in the prairie. I stay low, making sure not to make a sound. A lanky-legged giraffe stands a few yards away from us, chewing softly on a shrub. He is unaware of the danger that’s coming towards him. My large bat-like ears are pinned forward, listening to every quiet noise he makes. I hear the sound of him softly chewing. I have to make sure he doesn’t see me coming.
As we creep closer, I feel my heart thump in my chest, and a sharp bolt of hunger burns through me. I haven’t eaten in days. The lions have chased our prey away from us for their own benefit. Our packs have been growing smaller by the minute. Members have been dying from starvation, disease, and the most lethal of all, humans. Humans have been mistaking us for hyenas that hunt their livestock. They’ve been shooting us by the dozens. It’s just a matter of time before they wipe us all out.
Once we get close enough to the giraffe, we lunge at him. I run around the back of him and bite at his wobbly legs, trying to get him down. Even though I want to collapse from starvation, I’m not going to let my meal run away. The large animal tumbles to the floor, and my pack and I howl with pride.
After we ate, my pups and I wrestled around. “Mama,” one of my pups, Willow, looked up at me with wide eyes. “Why do we stay so far away from the wide trees?” I looked at her, wondering what she was talking about. Then I realized! She was talking about the human houses! I smiled softly, “The humans live there. They might hurt us if they see us. That’s why we stay away from them.” Willow nodded. “But,” I continued, “I’ll keep you safe. No matter what.” My pup looked up at me with wide eyes, “Promise?” She asked. I nodded, “Promise.”
My mom always told me that you don’t know death is wrapping its paws around you until you’re in its grip. I didn’t believe her. At least, not until now. I hear my pack whimpering, and I poke my head up, wondering why my rest was being interrupted. Sleepily, I take a deep breath and smell smoke. I look around. Fire surrounds my area. Screaming at me. Lunging at me. I jump up, grabbing my pup, Fern, by the loose skin on her neck. I bark desperately at my other pups to follow me. I look behind me at my pack. Parents grab their pups and flee, running in all different directions. Fire spreads through the grass like a virus. My pups yelp, trying to keep up, and I urge them on. Humans are in the distance, carrying their rifles and yelling angrily. I can’t tell what they’re saying, but I know it can’t be good.
I trip on a small rock, and it feels like I’m falling in slow motion. Fern falls out of my mouth and collapses onto the ground. I’m bleeding on my leg, but I need to keep running. I need to save my pups. I pick her up and continue running. My heart is beating so hard it feels like I’m about to explode. I don’t know where I’m going, I just know I need to get out of here.
I’m not sure what happens next, but flames start to surround me. I yelp and dodge them. A human points his gun at me, and I flinch but keep running. My pups follow close behind. Gunshots in the distance urge me to keep running. Rain starts to fall. The ground is muddy, and I have to make sure I don’t slip. It’s like running through water; I have to stay afloat. The mud slows me down, but I can’t give up. Keep fighting. Stay alive.
I start to slow down to a stop. My chest is heaving, and I can’t seem to catch my breath. My pups catch up and collapse next to me. The wound on my leg has gotten deeper, and I’m losing a lot of blood. Starvation hits me. I’ve been running for hours. I sniff the air. No more smoke, no more guns. I count my pups. One, two, three, four, wait, where’s five? I jump up searching for her scent. Nothing. I’m trembling. Where is she? Where is my Willow? My pups look down at their paws, whimpering. Guilt overwhelms me, and I can’t breathe. I’ve lost her. Willow. My dear pup. The humans have won. Again.
My pack and I are in big danger, and you can help us! Donate to charities raising money to protect our habitat. Many of these charities watch us and do what is necessary to help our species. Even just telling a friend about ways to help us gets us farther from extinction. Many humans are stealing our homes and using them to create homes for themselves. Others hunt us because they think we hunt their livestock. We very rarely do this because we prefer to stay away from humans. Educating farmers who live near our habitat will stop them from hurting us. All you need to do is share this information! Please get my pack off the endangered species list.
After I finished my story, I started working on a book! I collaged different scraps together to create the habitat of my animal. Once I was finished, I cut a bunch of little pieces of paper to create a mini African wild dog! I created a cover and glued all of the words into my book. Then it was finished! Here it is, 
Thank you so much for reading my blog post! I hope you enjoyed my story.
