Forest protection starts with picking up a lynx girl

Chapter 405: Four Cubs, Something is Missing
"The puppies at uncle's house are old enough to be seen. Let you pick one first."

Chen Ying made an appointment with him and called Uncle Zhaxi to ask him for help.

Of course he could tell whether a dog was sick or had intellectual disabilities, but only experienced local people like the uncle could tell which dog was most suitable for the wilderness.

Besides, he wanted Uncle Zhaxi to be in charge of the Heyuan First Aid Station in the future, and whether the dog and he could get along well was the most important thing.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked Uncle Zhaxi to go to the herdsmen's village to choose a dog.

Uncle Zhaxi agreed immediately, but we had to wait until he returned from patrol.

Until early July, Chen Ying had treated three female antelopes that had broken their legs while escaping, and seven lambs that had been separated from their mothers and the herd.

Fortunately, Erniu has moved away with her children, otherwise there would be no place to rescue the ewes and lambs.

Chen Ying and Sun Qihai spent three days to build the fence, which enclosed about five acres of grassland for the ewes and lambs to move around and forage.

The nanny dog ​​and her family were moved into the animal shed where the snow leopard had lived before, and the nanny dog ​​was asked to look after the ewes and lambs.

Although Labrador is a breed of dog that helps with fishing, it should also be able to be used to herd sheep.

After the dog nanny was responsible for looking after a few Tibetan antelopes, the dog's mental state improved a lot, as if she had been laid off and successfully found a job, and she was very proud of herself (*v).

It was very hard for Sun Qihai to study Erniu's family, and he often brought a tent and went to the mountains to wait.

Including but not limited to recording the daily activities of the cubs, Erniu's daily life of taking care of the babies, and the male leopard's daily life of patrolling the territory to protect his wife and children.

The highest record was coming back after seven days to have a day of rest, take a shower, change clothes, have a good sleep, then turn around and go straight to Erniu.

Erniu even came to complain to Chen Ying, saying that Sun Qihai was staring at her too closely and she felt uncomfortable.

He groaned for a long time, and before leaving he urinated at the door of Sun Qihai's room as a revenge.

The procedures for the Heyuan emergency station have been completed, and the renovation of the buildings can begin only after the migration of the Tibetan antelopes is completed.

It is highly likely that it will not be available this year, and trainees and volunteers will not be able to move in until March next year at the earliest.

In mid-July, good news came from Erniu's fourth cub: its illness had been cured, it had undergone a minor operation, and is currently recovering well.

But the biggest disagreement at the moment is whether or not to let the fourth child return to the second child.

The little leopard seems to be similar to the snow leopard that Qingye rescued before. It is very close to humans and not sensitive to stress. Such a leopard definitely cannot survive in the wild.

But that leopard left its mother too early and did not learn any survival skills. In addition, it was young and had too much contact with humans during treatment, so it was judged to be unable to adapt to survival in the wild and was included in the organization.

Unlike the other four cubs, it has a mother and can learn wild survival skills from her.

"This is the situation now. The two factions in the center each have their own opinions and reasons. Brother Ying, do you think we should let the four cubs come back?"

Duanmu was very conflicted. The center asked him to conduct an assessment for the snow leopard cubs for release into the wild. He hesitated for two days and decided to seek Chen Ying's opinion.

Chen Ying directly told him to send the snow leopard cub over for a try. If it cannot adapt to survival in the wild, then he can only send it to Qingye.

At least Qingye has rich experience in taking care of snow leopards, and there is a young female snow leopard over there. Maybe she would be willing to keep a child-rearing husband.

Three days later, an assessment team from Heyuan Center, Qingye, and Sun Qihai’s school brought the four cubs over.

Chen Ying and Sun Qihai frowned when they saw the four cubs for the first time.

The fourth cub is really too small, only two-thirds the size of the big cub, and must be fed milk artificially every day. If they are not watched over, they will not eat. They are much like children who are chased by their parents to be fed.

With this habit, it is still a question whether I can get Erniu's milk.

In addition, three cubs have started eating meat, but the fourth cub has not eaten much meat due to gastrointestinal problems.

Even if we eat it, it is hand-cut meat, clean and hygienic. It is nothing like in the wild, where the prey is dragged back and torn into pieces and eaten in the wild.

It’s okay now, but when food is scarce in winter, they may have to eat carrion. Can the four cubs’ stomachs bear it?
After a preliminary check on the condition of the four cubs, Chen Ying took people to observe the other three cubs. After comparing the two, the comrades who were evaluating did not know what to say.

If you put the four cubs together, no one would believe that they were born from the same litter.

Erniu seemed to sense something, and in the evening, a leopard came to see the four cubs.

The four cubs were temporarily locked in the room where the dogs were kept. The gate at the door was lowered, and it tried desperately to get out several times, but failed every time.

Erniu looked at it through the fence. The four cubs couldn't recognize their mother at all and got angry at Erniu.

Erniu came closer, sniffed through the fence for a long time, then turned and ran away.

Chen Ying and Duanmu looked at each other and ran out to chase Erniu.

Erniu seemed to know that he would catch up with her, so she stopped after running not far away, lay on the grass, and stared at the big and small Tibetan antelopes not far away.

"What's going on? What's the meaning of running out all of a sudden?"

"It won't work. It's too weak."

Erniu rolled over on the ground, her belly facing the sky, and hugged Chen Ying's arm to let him touch her.

"It's too delicate and can't adapt to life here."

"It's still young, you should teach it more."

Erniu shook her head, looking conflicted.

"It's no use teaching it. It can't learn." Erniu wanted to explain but couldn't make it clear. She simply asked Chen Ying to go with it to see the other three cubs and they would understand.

When they reached the mountain, Erniu led Chen Ying to a crevice, where the three cubs were fighting in a melee.

The eldest cub pinned down his younger brother and beat him, while the third sister rushed from the side and knocked the eldest cub, who was a size bigger than her, to the ground.

The eldest cub growled, turned around and pounced on his younger sister, scratching and biting her. The third sister cried out in pain.

The second little one took a running start, and the leopard covered the top and pressed on the big cub.

The eldest cub pressed down on the third sister's head, and turned sideways to bite and wrestle with the second cub.

The third sister took the opportunity to exert force and pulled her brother's head out from under his body.

The force was quite strong and it fell to the ground with its butt.

The third sister shook her head and was about to continue, but when she turned her head and saw her mother, she immediately rolled and crawled out.

This little anxious boy looks hungry.

When the two little leopards who were fighting heard the third sister calling for mother, they immediately gave up the idea of ​​deciding the winner and rushed towards their mother at a faster speed.

Halfway through the journey, the second little one used a shady trick. He stepped on his sister's back, pushed his eldest brother away, and was the first to run to the second girl and occupy the best position for eating.

The older cub didn't seem particularly interested in nursing.

After looking around Erniu and not finding any meat, her little face drooped instantly and she ate the food casually without hesitation.

Not long after, the snow leopard returned from its daily patrol with a pika in its mouth.

It put the pika down, stepped on it with one paw, bit its skin and tore a hole in it, growled, then came and lay down beside Erniu, letting her lie against it more comfortably.

Hearing his father's roar, the eldest cub rushed over first, approached the torn hole and licked it tentatively. After tasting the blood, it started to bite with a howl.

After all, it is still small, and its few milk teeth are not enough to deal with too large prey. The meat of pika is just right, not too old or too dry, and the milk teeth can tear off a lot of meat.

Hearing the sound of the eldest brother eating meat, the second brother hesitated for a moment, then ran over to grab the meat from his eldest brother.

The third sister raised her eyelids to take a look, then continued to work hard until her belly was full. Then she went over to the pika and smacked her lips twice.

Chen Ying stopped filming, watched it over and over again, and finally determined what was missing from the four cubs.

After all, they were raised by humans, and the four cubs lacked wildness and ferocity.

For a cub like that, let alone whether it can snatch food from its brothers and sisters, even if Erniu takes special care of it, will it follow behind its brothers to pick up leftovers to eat in the future?

Chen Ying sighed, said goodbye to Erniu, and went back to send the video to Duanmu and his team.

A group of people looked at it for a long time, studied and discussed it over and over again, and finally had to give up the plan of letting it return to Erniu.

"Take it back first, and wait until it's a little bigger, then see if you can train it."

The team leader made the final decision.

The purpose of rescue is to allow the animals to return to the wild smoothly, not to rescue them for the purpose of exhibition.

The mother leopard refused to raise it, so they had to come.

Fortunately, Erniu has a good personality and is very familiar with the people in Heyuan. When the fourth cub grows up, perhaps she will be willing to teach it how to survive in the wild.

Although the mission ended in failure, the growth of the other three cubs exceeded expectations. Combined with the daily life of Erniu's family filmed by Chen Ying and Sun Qihai, they may be able to learn from them how to raise snow leopard cubs and how to keep them wild, so as to better formulate a plan for the release of snow leopards into the wild.

When Duanmu took the four cubs away, Erniu and the big snow leopard came to take a look from afar.

The four cubs seemed to sense something as well. They stood in the cage and stared in the direction of the rest stop.

The day after Duanmu and his friends left, Uncle Zhaxi drove over and planned to go and see the dog.

Tsering said it was the Mastiff King's cub, but Uncle Tashi was a little unconvinced.

The Mastiff King is not an ordinary Tibetan Mastiff.

In the past few years, Tibetan mastiffs were sold at sky-high prices, and many dealers bought large quantities of them to breed mastiff dogs. Later, when the price dropped, the better dealers directly sold them to kennels, while the less-good dealers drove the bred mastiff dogs onto the streets.

Some dealers simply lock the doors of the breeding grounds and let the dogs in the kennels eat each other. The dogs that survive are then only ferocious and will bite anyone they see.

At that time, many herdsmen were also breeding mastiffs, but their attitude towards the dogs was much better than that of the traffickers.

Uncle Zhaxi was worried that the uncle was in this line of work and would take advantage of Chen Ying and cheat her.

After calling Tsering and making an appointment, Uncle Tashi drove Chen Ying to the herdsmen’s village.

The uncle who raises a dog lives at the very edge. He has fenced off a piece of land and built a kennel. His mastiff lives here, and he can also keep an eye on the cattle and sheep at home.

Uncle Zhaxi greeted him and went straight to the kennel.

As I got closer, I heard a low roar.

The uncle's eyes lit up, "This is the sound it should make!"

Looking up, he saw an iron-clad gold Tibetan Mastiff staring at him vigilantly, as if it would bite him hard if he dared to get close.

(End of this chapter)