Judy Hopps was always what you might call a go-getter. You could even say she was an eager beaver, if that didn’t sound so offensive to less-industrious semiaquatic rodents. Her 200-plus brother and sister bunnies might have been more than content to stay down home on the farm. But Judy had bigger plans!
You see, animals have now evolved beyond all that useless "predator and prey" bloodlust of their past. Indeed, they’re all part of a very civilized and conversant society these days. So why shouldn’t a tiny bunny have the opportunity to be something like, say, a cop when she grows up? That’s right, a little puff of whiskers, feet and fluff called Judy Hopps has always had the lion-sized dream of joining the rhinos, buffaloes and moose on the police force.
So she signed up for the police academy. And while her limited scale, shall we say, made things a bit difficult, with a little extra hop-to-it-iveness the little rabbit bounded all the way to the top of her class. And right after graduation she was assigned the job of her dreams: She was to be the first bunny cop in the big city of Zootopia!
Of course, even that plum assignment had its share of frustrating toe stubs and tail tugs. Since she’s the first to benefit from Mayor Lionheart’s new mammal-inclusion initiative, well, the other cops on the force haven’t been all that welcoming. They look right over and past her.
Why, Captain Bogo barely growled in her direction long enough to assign her parking meter duty. He wouldn’t even consider her doing anything else. And Judy just knows she could be helpful in a big missing-animals case that everyone else is working on. But if it’s going to be parking meter duty, well, Judy will be the best parking meter cop you ever saw. They want 100 tickets handed out in a day? She’ll do 200! Before lunch! Then … maybe she can spend the afternoon, well, kinda lifting an ear in this direction or that.
She’ll keep a keen lookout for any slippery weasels or shifty foxes who might pass her way. Not that she’ll be species-profiling or anything. No sir. Judy has a way of sniffing things out, is all. And if there’s any back-alley beastie badness going on, she’ll find it. You’ll see.