"I just love Petpets!" Samrin the Kacheek says, placing a small Babaa safely into its pen. "It's always been my lifelong ambition to be a Petpet shepherd. Now here I am, taking care of these wonderful little guys until they're fully-grown and ready to be adopted by a loving owner. It's always been an enjoyable, relaxing job; feeding, petting and grooming all these cute little Petpets, that is, until Balthazar showed up."

Breathing a heavy sigh, Samrin tells the story of how Balthazar, Neopia's most notorious bounty hunter, recently started making life very difficult for this simple shepherd.

"Well, I guess Balthazar had grown tired of trying to catch Faeries, and discovered he could make a large profit by stealing Petpets! I happened to look out my window one day, and sure enough, there the monster was! He was slowly sneaking up on a group of my precious Petpets. I shouted and ran out the door as fast as I could, but it was too late. Balthazar had pounced upon them, grabbing one in each arm. Another one of my pets, a little Babaa, tried to escape, but since Balthazar didn't have an extra hand, he used his jaws to try and grab the poor thing.

Eek! My poor Babaas!

Well, I guess he'd accidentally swallowed it, because a great gleam soon came over his eyes. He let out a mighty roar as he went to shove the other two helpless Petpets into his jaws. Licking his giant chops, I had a horrible feeling that Balthazar had just found his favourite meal. I saw his eyes search around for more of my darlings to feast upon, but by this time I had safely secured the other Petpets into the paddock where Balthazar couldn't reach them. I remember him snarling at me and giving me a hateful glare before turning away to leave, and I knew...
he would be back."

"Ever since then I've had to guard my Petpets throughout the day while they exercise in the garden. Otherwise they could become a mid-day snack for that twisted Lupe. It's a dangerous job. I must say, I've been bitten more than once pulling my little ones out of the way just in the nick of time," Samrin says, displaying a bandaged arm.

This little Kacheek has certainly been through a lot lately; I'm sure he wouldn't mind if a few good Neopians decided to help out.

"If they did I'd really appreciate it, but they'll have to be one Extreme Herder if they want to stop Balthazar."