Animal pen pals 1: Gustav the rat

Gustav the rat is the close friend of J's two mouse puppets, Ulli and Sabine, and of Franziska, the flying-squirrel puppet. 

Gustav

He lives in Germany. J invited him last spring to come for a visit, but he is very busy (he's also a close friend of Remy, the rat in Ratatouille) and hasn't yet had time to make the trip. So instead he and J write emails back and forth.  

Today while listening to the reptile audiobook, J heard a bit about the endangered environment that really bothered him, so he proposed writing a letter about it to Gustav. With a little bit of help from Franziska, J dictated the letter below. I wrote it down and subsequently sent to to Gustav via email.

Lieber Gustav,

Heute Morgen haben wir darüber gehört, wie der Lebensraum von Tieren verschwindet. Wir möchten, dass Du den Tieren, die das nicht wissen, Briefe wie dieser Brief schreibst, um sie davor zu warnen. Wir haben beim Naturzentrum auch darüber gelernt, dass es Öl in einem kleinen Bach gibt und dass dieses Öl von Autos kommt. Der Regen wäscht [sic] das Öl in die Kanalisation und es kommt bei dem kleinen Bach 'raus.

Deine Freunde,
Jamie und Franziska

(Dear Gustav, Today we heard about how the habitat of animals is disappearing. We would like you to write letters like this letter to the animals that don't know this and warn them about it. At the nature center we also learned that there is oil in a little stream and that this oil comes from cars. The rain washes it into the sewers and it comes out at the stream. Your friends, Jamie and Franziska)