Sarka and Oliver often make their parents fear that curiosity will harm more than a cat. For these twelve-year-old students, visiting the zoo seems closer to an expedition than a field trip. But while they expect to find lions, tigers, and bears, they don't expect those animals to break free, stranding them amid a zoo gone wild.

With predators of all stripes and bites at their heels, the kids would love to flee. But they find they aren't the only ones in need of rescue when they stumble upon a zookeeper using the outbreak as a distraction to steal baby pandas. Having witnessed the crime, the kids set out to save the pandas and escape before the carnivores and kidnappers can catch them.