Meet the Carters: Mr. and Mrs. Carter, 10-year-old daughter Keisha, five-year-old Razi, baby Paolo, and Grandma Alice. Together, they run Carters’ Urban Rescue, the place you call when you’ve got an animal where it shouldn’t be. In their first adventure, there’s a baby alligator at the city pool, which will seriously interfere with opening day, especially Keisha’s cannonball practice. So it’s up to the whole family to figure out what to do with the poor guy who has no business hanging around Michigan. Luckily for all of them, and thanks to some serious ingenuity from Keisha, the answer is closer than they ever could have imagined.

Keisha and her family are just sitting down to Saturday-morning breakfast when the phone rings. Uh-oh! There seems to be a skunk at the community garden, and it’s dug a hole under the shed. At the same time, Mr. Sanders can’t deliver the mail to a certain house: crows keep dive-bombing him when he gets near the mailbox. Time for the Animal Rescue Team to spring into action! This time they’ve got two mysteries to solve: What could crows have against mail delivery? And what really dug that hole at the community garden–as Mama knows, it’s too big to have been dug by a skunk. Once again, it’ll take the whole team, along with help from some new friends, to sort out what, and who, is creating all this mayhem around town.

It’s autumn in Grand River, and as Keisha and her pals prepare for Halloween, a phone call comes in to Carters’ Urban Rescue: a deer has been spotted in the neighborhood . . . with a pumpkin on his head! The deer was enjoying the birdseed treat inside when, somehow, it got stuck. The Animal Rescue Team has a problem to solve: how do you get a pumpkin off a deer’s head when you can’t catch him? (And how can Keisha concentrate when the newest animal at Carters’ Urban Rescue is howling his way into her heart?) Whatever the dilemma, if it’s got fur or feathers, the Carters are the ones to call!

The squirrels at Mt. Mercy College are frightening the students and making the nuns jumpy. Time to call the Animal Rescue Team! Meanwhile, Keisha’s got a jump rope problem to solve. Can Sergeant Pinkham, who’s learning to use his new prosthetic leg, teach Keisha how to stay calm under pressure?

The most important thing is to get an adult to help you with the situation.

If no one knows what it is, then it’s time to contact the authorities. The first contact should be ‘animal control.’ They will be listed in the government section of your phone book. If it is outside their normal hours of operation and you think you have a potentially dangerous animal on your hands, call 9-1-1.

If you figure out that you have a native animal (that means one that belongs in the wild in your area) that is not posing a threat (for example a snake that doesn’t bite), you can have an adult transport the animal to field or wild area where it belongs.

Most native snakes can and will bite, but pose no real threat. A small snake that is attempting to bite can be re-located (by an adult) with a broom and an empty trash can. The exception would be areas where venomous snakes are found (it’s extremely rare here in Michigan). If an adult thinks it is dangerous to move and poses a threat, contact a wildlife rehabilitator to help relocate the animal. To find wildlife rehabilitators, you can call your local Department of Natural Resources office, your vet, the Humane Society or the zoo.

If you have a non-native animal on your hands (like a little alligator), an adult may try to contain it and then call the one of the organizations listed above and ask for help. It might be someone’s pet and have been reported missing.