Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Despite being injured, the Young Bully remains very fierce.

The injured area on this White-tailed Sea Eagle is the wing, with obvious signs of fracture.

Even though this fellow is already injured and unable to fly, it still struggles to flap its wings to leave the rescue box, soon abrasively injuring the apex of both wings.

Chen Ying and Kelas went over to see it, and the fellow quickly turned its head to gaze at them through the gaps in the cage.

After observing, Chen Ying judged that the Young Bully's injuries would recover fairly slowly, and if they waited for its wings to normally grow and heal, it would take at least one to two years.

Alternatively, they could opt for feather transplant treatment.

Feather transplant is a relatively mature treatment method, and international bird rescue organizations also collect some feathers as donors.

Conventional feather transplant involves attaching feathers from the same species to an injured bird's flight feathers, with matching length and location of donor and receptor feathers, primarily to assist birds in catching up with the migration season.

Additionally, because bird feathers take time to replace, and newly grown blood feathers require normal and strong flight feathers for protection, otherwise, they can easily break again during activities, the existence of feather banks is very important in bird rescue.

This wetland park does not have any similar institutions to carry out such treatments. Chen Ying can help treat its fractured wings, but the issue of feathers is beyond his capability.

Fortunately, there are already places in the country where feather banks have been established. Just by contacting them in advance, and confirming the status of the injured bird's species and the quantity of feathers needed via the network, one can customize a treatment plan.

Old Gao and his allies are engaged in this field, and they don't need Chen Ying to assist in reaching out; they can contact them by themselves.

After Chen Ying assisted the bird doctors here in the wetland with treating the Young Bully's fracture issues, they would need to proceed with contacting the Capital Raptor Rescue Center for the subsequent feather transplant process.

Once the Young Bully was settled, Old Gao's college friend finally had time to host the two of them.

"Old Gao mentioned you need to stay here for a week. I've prepared the place for you, right on the outskirts of the wetland park. It used to be a village, which relocated as the wetland park expanded. A few village houses were preserved as accommodation for visiting research teams. Currently, a bird research team occupies two houses on the east side, but you'll stay on the west side."

While conversing, he led the two of them to their lodgings.

Within the wetland, they naturally used eco-friendly electric cars, leaving their vehicle at the public parking lot outside the wetland.

When Meidi was led down, Old Gao's college friend paused for a moment.

"Your Big Cat won't catch birds, will it?"

"It won't, it won't, we will be attentive."

Kelas quickly explained that Meidi preferred the taste of mammals and wasn't interested in birds full of feathers. Besides, it's a domesticated pet, and although it might chase birds, it wouldn't bite them.

"Alright then, just keep an eye on your cat. If any trouble arises, it might be difficult for me to defend you."

Chen Ying assured him that they would be cautious and take responsibility if any problems occurred.

The old house on the western side of the village was spacious, with a garden in front of the house big enough for Meidi to roam.

"This house is generally for family members of our employees, while other research units are arranged on the east side of the village. Honestly, the conditions there are better, but it's crowded and noisier than here."

There are water and electricity inside the house, meals can be had at the wetland park's canteen, or they can simply cook for themselves. Although there's no gas, electricity can be used.

Old Gao's college friend was busy, so after settling them in, he left but loaned them a car before departing.

The car seemed old, presumably a retired environmentally-friendly electric car, with only two seats, an empty rear compartment, and added iron railings, likely used for cargo transport.

Perfectly, the two of them could sit in the front, and Meidi could crouch in the back.

Besides other scientific units, the east side of the village had a local store opened by a family in hardship, following negotiations between the village and park management. The goods were genuine and priced similar to the supermarkets in the city.

Kelas stayed home with Meidi to clean, while Chen Ying went to the small store to buy food.

While choosing items in the store, he overheard two young, student-like individuals discussing the "Magic Footprints."

"That must be left by a large feline. I examined the footprint marks and compared them to references; it doesn't resemble a bear's footprint. Canine footprints don't look like this either. I've heard that occasionally snow leopards and lynx visit this area, so I suspect it's more likely to be a lynx."

"Impossible!" someone interrupted, "Lynx prefers forests and mountains. You might find them in the Tianshan Mountain Range and Altai Mountains, but how could they appear here? If it's feline, the rabbit cat, wildcat, or even desert cat seem more plausible."

The voices of the young ones grew louder, and Chen Ying listened for a while before joining in to inquire what was happening.

The group glanced at Chen Ying, assuming he was a new researcher. Two enthusiastic students updated him: a series of footprints was discovered near the northern entrance of the wetland, stretching nearly sixty to seventy meters, disappearing into the wetland.

The footprints were discovered around six o'clock this morning, and now fenced off from entry.

"It's still undetermined what animal it is. If it's a small feline, the threat is minimal. But if it's a lynx or leopard cat, caution is required—especially with over a dozen birds rescued here. Those cats better not be after the birds."