Forest protection starts with picking up a lynx girl

Chapter 568 Cat Mom’s Psychological Problems Are More Serious
After all, the cub had no front limbs to help, so after taking two bites, it accidentally slipped away. Then when it wanted to eat again, it couldn't reach it after reaching for a long time, and cried anxiously.

The mother cat took a look at her child, turned over slightly, revealing her soft belly, then raised her head, grabbed the cub by the scruff of the neck, pulled it up and placed it on her belly, letting it lie on her body to eat.

Yunyun was a little stunned. She originally wanted to go over and help cushion her baby's body from underneath, but she didn't expect the mother cat to make such a sacrifice.

After all, the abdomen is the softest part of their body and it is also the part that needs the most protection. Under normal circumstances, even when they feed their children, they would at most lie sideways. Exposing their belly like this in front of other animals is crazy!

It is not known whether the mother fishing cat is crazy or not, but the cub is eating happily. It seems to be very happy too, with its head tilted back, its claws retracted at both sides of its body, its eyes slightly narrowed, and its tail, which is much shorter than that of a normal cat, shaking slightly.

It is well known that the lynx has a short tail, but few people know that the short-tailed cat has an even shorter tail. The fishing cat is also a member of the short-tailed cat family, but its tail is longer than the previous two, just shorter than that of other cats.

(I did a comparative analysis, just take a look)
Because of their short tails, the cats and cat tails of other cats are designed to be two different creatures, which is not obvious in these three cats.

For example, right now, the female fishing cat is clearly wagging her tail happily, but the movement is so subtle that you won’t be able to detect it unless you pay close attention.

Breastfeeding can actually bring psychological and emotional satisfaction to the mother cat and her kittens. For example, who can say that the mother cat still wants to die? Even the kittens' snoring is a little louder than usual.

Everyone was very happy, but Chen Ying frowned.

"Brother Chen, this is good news. Why don't you look so happy?"

Chen Ying forced a smile. "This female cat's psychological problem is a bit tricky. Normal wild animals will definitely lose all their children at some point, but I've never heard of a female animal not wanting to live because all her children were gone."

Although there may be similar situations, there is really no such record as far as the records are concerned!

For rare animals like fishing cats whose numbers are continuously decreasing, we must strictly abide by the principles of wildlife protection, and they must not be kept in captivity unless necessary.

But the problem is that it is impossible for the kitten to return to the wild. If the mother cat wants to raise it, it must be done with the help of humans, which takes about a year.

After a year of captivity, can the wild fishing cat return to the wild? Another question is, this mother cat is so fragile, can she ensure that her next litter of cubs will not have any accidents? If something happens, will she just wait to die?
If it were other animals with larger numbers, Chen Ying would not be so troubled. After all, nature has its own set of rules, and survival of the fittest is the basis of evolution.

But who can blame the small number of fishing cats? According to records, neighboring countries have conducted several artificial breeding attempts, but the results were not ideal, with the mortality rate of cubs as high as 70%.

The only recorded successful artificial breeding in China is the Wildlife World in Guangdong Province. In addition, there are only four zoos or breeding institutions that have fishing cats. Among them, the one in Sichuan Province is limited to scientific research exchanges and not for public display. And this pair of fishing cats should have been introduced as part of the ex situ conservation plan.

Chen Ying had contacted them before, and maybe when the disabled cub grows up a little, he will be sent to the base research center. After all, there is a simulated wetland area there, which is more suitable for fishing cats to live.

Moreover, the base is not far from Jiamugou, so Chen Ying can visit the cubs at any time.

However, it would be quite difficult to apply to the higher authorities to bring the female cat back as well, and it might even attract the attention of relevant international conservation organizations.

It’s not that paying attention is bad, but some discrimination is deeply rooted. If you do a little more, normal behavior will be inferred from a dark direction.

Especially in the case of a female fishing cat, without any evidence, how can people believe that the reason they took the female cat away was because she wanted to die?
After confirming that the mother cat took good care of the disabled kitten, Chen Ying returned to the office, thought for a while, sent an email to her doctoral supervisor, and then called Professor Bai to seek the teacher's advice.

He was lucky because when he called, a staff member of the Global Fishing Cat Alliance (GFA) happened to be visiting Professor Bai in Jiamugou with his colleagues.

After hearing that Chen Ying's team had found a wild disabled fishing cat in the Nanman River Basin of Yunnan Province, the GFA staff member immediately talked to Chen Ying for details and agreed that he would go to Chen Ying the next day to verify the condition of the kittens and the mother cat.

"Mr. Chen, if this is indeed the case, we will submit a report and application to the project management team, and then there is a high possibility that the two fishing cats will be taken over by the project team."

"No problem, as long as we can solve the problem of keeping the mother cat and kittens in captivity, it will be fine. As for the disabled limbs of the kittens, my teacher Professor Bai and I will provide a clinical solution. I hope the project team will consider and cooperate with us at that time."

After the two reached an agreement, the GFA staff called their superior directly and asked Professor Bai to give him a copy of the relevant information and videos sent by Chen Ying, as he needed to go back and write the report and application immediately.

Even the furry creature couldn't entice him to stay, so the staff member simply took his friend away and said goodbye.

After they left, Sister Leopard jumped off the platform, came to Professor Bai, gently wrapped her tail around his calf, and looked up at the old man quietly.

"Sister Bao, Xiaoying has found another little friend for you, but this little friend is quite special and probably won't come to live with us."

Sister Bao sighed, rested her chin on Professor Bai's legs as he sat down, and leaned softly on the recliner where he was sitting.

Bipeds are good in every other way except that they are fickle!

Is it because there aren't enough furry animals at home? Or are they not comfortable enough to pet, or do you just not cherish them after you get them?
Professor Bai was petting the cat with a smile on his face, while holding a magazine in his other hand and wearing reading glasses on his nose. He was enjoying the pleasure of petting the furry animal while reading the latest trends in veterinary medicine.

Chen Ying received help from the GFA staff and had some ideas in mind. In addition, when he was communicating just now, he learned from the other party that the Banna Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province was also one of the members of this cooperation plan, and he suddenly felt the pressure relieved.

After all, these two fishing cats belong to the Banna Nature Reserve in terms of ownership. Although they are within the scope of the subordinate county-level nature reserve, it is legitimate for Banna to take over the matter.

Sure enough, before the staff member arrived, the Yunnan Province had already taken the initiative to contact Chen Ying, and before contacting Chen Ying, they had already sorted out the matter from other places in advance. The contact with Chen Ying was just to confirm how to cooperate in the future.

The person who came was someone Chen Ying knew, Lao Gao's female classmate.

The other party's position was promoted again, but his attitude towards Chen Ying was still as natural and friendly as before.

"We heard that wild fishing cats were found here before, but after knowing that a team was conducting research, we were not in a hurry to intervene. After all, you need to issue us a report after completing your mission here, so I wanted to wait and get a bargain. I didn't expect the problem to be a bit serious. Are there any results for the test of feline infectious peritonitis now?" "It is very difficult to sample and test wild animals, but judging from the distribution points, the disease has not spread, so the next step is that the comrades of the epidemic prevention station and the local protection and management bureau plan to conduct centralized testing of stray cats in several surrounding villages, and also set up a buffer zone to reduce contact between stray cats and local wild cats."

It is impossible to stop them completely, but fortunately the density of cats here is not high. They have been squatting there for so long and have only found two fishing cats. Together with the possible male fishing cats that have not been found, the number of adult fishing cats should not exceed five.

As for the leopard cats, they did find seven or eight and tried their best to take samples for testing, and the results were pretty good.

After the two chatted for a while about the follow-up disposal of the fishing cat, Dao Meihua took the person away. The two girls probably had other topics to talk about.

When Chen Ying organized a survey on the current situation of fishing cats, he also learned about some current related research progress in China.

He knew about the ex situ conservation plan, but he was not particularly clear about it. After all, this project was a collaboration among multiple units, and he was a team formed by an individual researcher, so he had no way of knowing the specific matters at the international cooperation level.

I had a chat with GFA staff today and learned some details of this ex situ conservation plan.

The research project applied for by the team he led could just fill in the gaps in this plan's research on wild fishing cats. It was probably based on this reason that the application was approved so quickly.

Chen Ying didn't feel any reluctance to help others. The research data were in their hands. Could she be stopped from writing the paper?

From another perspective, they actively cooperated with the relevant research and provided relevant data, and perhaps they could also be named as a joint researcher. This was not very helpful to him, but for the other people in his team, this was a qualification they could not even ask for! If they were to say it to others, they were also participants in the international joint project, even if it was just a trivial part of the work.

Chen Ying was sure that the fundamental reason why the other party was willing to accept the disabled kitten and the mother cat was because one of the items in this plan involved population reconstruction. The goal was to establish a sustainable captive population of at least fifty individuals (genetic diversity ≥ 95%) within ten years.

Although the cub has physical disabilities, there may be nothing wrong with its genes.

The mother of the cub, a female fishing cat with serious psychological problems, is fully capable of taking on the responsibility of artificial breeding. I believe that in captivity, with the help of humans, the survival rate of her cubs will increase significantly, and she will no longer have to face the cruel blow of her cubs dying.

Well, the best of all worlds!

After communicating with the veterinarians and staff in charge of epidemic prevention, they summarized the information they had and began the next step of checking stray cats.

"Doctor Chen, we found two dead stray cats in Manwang Village." The caller was from the epidemic prevention station. "The ranger and veterinarian who accompanied me have taken the bodies of the two cats back for examination. Veterinarian Yimu speculated that the two cats may have died of feline infectious peritonitis. Now we need to focus on checking the jungle and waters near Manwang Village."

Chen Ying clicked on the map. There was a river near Manwang Village and a fairly large wetland. There were also many wild animals there. If feline infectious peritonitis was really found to be spreading, the subsequent disinfection work would require considerable intensity.

As the main person in charge of the research team, Chen Ying communicated with his cousin Dao Meihua and handed over the investigation task to the local epidemic prevention and forest management stations. They will stay on guard for another three days. If no trace is found, they will leave the infrared camera behind and all personnel will withdraw.

The next step may be to visit conservation stations in neighboring countries to continue searching for traces of fishing cats.

Coincidentally, the joint project at the base involved Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam from the ASEAN side, but not Laos, which is adjacent to Mengla. The main area of ​​Chen Ying and his team's operation this time was exactly the connecting area between Mengla and Laos, which no one was optimistic about.

Chen Ying was not clear about how the negotiations were conducted at the higher levels. He only knew that when the Dao family came forward to negotiate with the Laotian side, the other party only reviewed the qualifications of the research team and agreed.

Chen Ying was not the one who actually did the work, he just wanted to know whether the result was acceptable or not.

In addition to handling miscellaneous matters, there are also special personnel in the team to handle other handover work. Chen Ying has nothing to do for the time being, so she plans to go and see the poor mother and son.

Yunyun was lying in the shade and sleeping, and her cubs were rolling into a big fur ball and also sleeping soundly.

Looking in through the window, the female fishing cat was in much better condition. Her hair, which had originally looked messy due to illness and poor mental state, was now much smoother.

It lay on its side, belly exposed, and the kitten lay on its belly, holding it in its mouth with eyes closed, sucking it twice and then slowly letting it go due to sleepiness. When it felt like it was about to fall out, it quickly sucked it twice more, and the cycle continued over and over again.

Chen Ying disinfected her clothes, put on protective clothing and gloves, entered the cat's nest, took out the cub, and planned to observe its abnormally developed forelimbs carefully.

Although the female cat was dozing off, it woke up the moment Chen Ying entered. After realizing it was Chen Ying, it yawned, changed its position, and continued to sleep soundly.

The kitten's belly is so round from eating so much that if you ignore its two fleshy front legs, it looks very chubby.

Chen Ying carefully observed the kitten's limbs and found that the extremities were a little broken. This was probably because the kitten subconsciously used the extremities to support its body during daily activities, and rubbed against the ground or walls and other hard and rough places.

This is not a good way to go. Frequent friction will damage the skin on the extremities. There is no normal skin surface tissue here, and not even hair has grown. There are just two bare granulations, separated by a layer of skin and bones inside.

If the skin is broken and not treated in time, it is likely to directly wear out the bones, which will cause other complications and have extremely bad effects on the kitten's body.

Taking out her cell phone, Chen Ying took more than 20 photos of the kitten's limb extremities and entire body, capturing all the details clearly. She then packaged the photos and videos and sent them to an email address.

The owner of this email address is someone Chen Ying met when she was studying for her doctorate in Northern Europe. He is also a doctor of veterinary medicine, but his main research area is the practical application of customized assistive tools for disabled animals, including 3D printing prosthetic limbs for animals with missing limbs.

There are also institutions in China that specialize in 3D printing of pet prosthetics, but if you want to print a prosthetic limb for a growing wild fishing cat and help it constantly adjust, adapt, and use the prosthetic limb during its growth stage, this task is not something that ordinary institutions can accomplish.

Another most important reason is that current 3D printed prosthetics usually require certain bones as support points, and the cub's forelimbs are only granulation-like, and even if there are incompletely developed bones, they may not necessarily serve as support points.

Therefore, the biggest challenge is how to make this prosthesis and what method to use as support.

(End of this chapter)