"A Mammal's a Mammal"
"I remember that Coca-Koala billboard," Judy said from the passenger seat of the police cruiser. She had finally given in and let Nick drive. "We just drove in a big circle." She turned to her partner. "I thought you said you knew every street in Zootopia."
"OK, every was a slight exaggeration. I know 99 percent, and I rounded." The fox turned left down McCorvey Road, another street in the unfamiliar 1 percent, hoping it led somewhere he knew.
Four blocks down, Nick stopped at a red light by a one-story gray building, outside of which some twenty-five mammals had gathered on the sidewalk. They were a diverse group—prey and predator, young and old, male and female, large and small and in between. Some held printed signs with images of very young mammals who were either happy or in great peril; others held paw-written signs with positive messages about life or religious references; two banners proclaimed, "A Mammal's a Mammal No Matter How Small" and "Defund Planned Mammalhood."
Judy was confused by most of the messages. She turned to Nick. "Do you know what they're protesting?"
Nick nodded with a sigh. "I think this is one of those places where a three-humped camel can go to become a two-humped camel."
"Where a pregnant camel can go to no longer be pregnant. A birth center?"
"The exact opposite of that, actually."
"What could be the opposite of a birth center?" She looked at a few of the protesters' signs again and it suddenly came to her. "No! Not allowing a mammal to be born at all! That can't be a thing! That can't exist!" She pulled on the handle and thrust her door open. "Come on, Nick! Let's go! Let's shut this place down forever!"
"Carrots, wait!" He grabbed his partner's wrist before she could leave the cruiser.
"What?" she said as she turned to face him. "Do you think we should call for backup first?"
"Judy," he said as he moved his paw from her wrist to her shoulder, "I hate this place as much as you do, but there's nothing we can do as police officers. Growing up in Bunnyburrow, you probably didn't know, but this kind of place is actually legal in Zootopia."
Judy felt ill. The carrots she had eaten for breakfast wanted to come up. "This is a terrible injustice."
"Yes, it is. But it doesn't have to be forever. Like you said the day my class graduated from the police academy, change starts with all of us."
