Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

In the middle of the night, Chen Ying suddenly woke up with a start, and saw that it was exactly three o'clock.

They had divided into three shifts to monitor the surveillance, rotating every two hours. It was his turn now.

As he went out, the student he brought along was staring intently at the screen.

"Teacher, look at this. From the head shape, it should be a leopard cat, but it can swim."

The most obvious difference between a leopard cat and a fishing cat is their head. Those unfamiliar might not know how to distinguish them, but for those who study this, they can spot the difference at a glance. The fishing cat's head is adorably flat, with small ears and two white spots at the back.

Although the video wasn't very clear, the upright ears were still very noticeable, the shape typical of a normal big cat.

Continuing to watch, the cat entered the water by the bank, swam two or three meters forward, came ashore at another spot, shook the water droplets off its fur vigorously, glanced around, and disappeared into the woods.

After extracting the video onto his computer, enlarging and repeatedly identifying sections, they confirmed it was a leopard cat.

While they were busy, a leopard snuck up at some point and insisted on squeezing its head between them, staring at the video without blinking.

Chen Ying lightly tapped its head, chuckled softly, "Do you understand what you're watching? Are you planning to go to college or what?"

Later that night, the leopard cat appeared again and successfully caught a fish about the size of a palm.

After leaving with the fish, until dawn, no small animals appeared in the camera again.

They saved these two video clips and sent them to the data center. The researchers stationed in the town would perform image processing and comparative analysis. If there were any doubts, they would notify them to sample.

Fishing cats are typical night owls, and leopard cats rarely appear during the day. Taking advantage of the time they return to rest, Chen Ying led the team to the water to collect footprints and search for other usable biological samples.

Over the next five or six days, the leopard cat appeared only three times, and on one of those occasions, it caught a waterfowl.

Judging by its skill in plucking feathers, it hadn't eaten few.

Keeping watch at the site is a rather tedious task. Fortunately, there were four of them, so they could chat and take breaks to do other things. Alone, without strong willpower and endurance, one couldn't hold out.

The leopard that stayed with them for one night couldn't take it anymore and didn't come back after leaving the next day.

During that time, Yan Han's brother from the village brought them supplies once, and Yunyun followed with her two babies. They played nearby for a while, found the environment unsuitable, and when Yan Han's brother went back, they climbed into the back basket without a trace of reluctance, letting Yan Han's brother carry them back.

Unsure if it was Yunyun's arrival that attracted the leopard cat, that night it swam across from the opposite bank, searched carefully near the camp, and followed the direction Yunyun came from.

Yunyun's two babies were only three months old, just starting to learn to catch fish. Not expecting them to be independent like normal fishing cats at eighteen months, at least by next spring Yunyun would drive them away to prepare for the next litter.

The first to spot the fishing cat's tracks was near the border along the Nanmuha River. It was a male cat, had been there for two days, and only managed to catch one fish. The team tracking it was anxious for it. This guy clearly slacked off while learning hunting from its mother.

Its posture was well-prepared, the force of entering the water was strong. Sadly, the timing was off, scaring away three large fish in a row, and the only fish it caught was due to it foolishly swimming into shallow water, unable to escape, thus being caught.

Watching it devour the whole fish ravenously, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The youngest student on their team even thought, if it couldn't catch any more fish, he might as well buy one from the village to feed it.

"Teacher, do you think it's because its head is small, hence the brain is small too, making it so dimwitted?"

The student's snarky comment left Chen Ying at a loss for words.

It was the first time for these students to see a wild fishing cat with their own eyes, and they were utterly disappointed. Is this what's called a jungle swamp killer? It's probably endangered because it starved.

Of course, if the living habitat were broader, with more selective fishing waters, the success rate might be higher.

But having watched Yunyun's fishing videos and comparing this fishing cat's performance, everyone's corners of the mouth drooped, expressing disdain clear and blatant.

After dawdling for two days, on the night they decided to take measures to procure biological samples from it, it stood them up! (｀ﾍ´)=3

Watching from night till dawn, the cat never appeared, and everyone knew it probably left the wetland.

Fortunately, the same night brought news from the Nanla River area. They found a female cat with a bulging belly, possibly pregnant and waiting to give birth.

The climate in Banna is hot, with suitable temperatures all year round, so feline animals do not have a very pronounced breeding season. As long as they are not pregnant, they can look for partners year-round.

This discovery exhilarated everyone, and Chen Ying immediately arranged for a neighboring observation team to send support. They needed to ensure this fishing cat's safety, and even better if they could find its place to give birth.

If not for the distance being a bit too far, and because he had to set an example, he would have rushed over to guard that fishing cat's birthing place immediately.

Chen Ying couldn't bear to blink as he stared at the screen, while a head kept nudging and rubbing his arm.

"Be quiet, I'm working here." Without turning his head, he reached out to push the troubling leopard head, only to unexpectedly touch something wet and slightly struggling with his palm.

Startled, Chen Ying turned his head to look and nearly jumped up.

"Holy cow, where did you catch this from?"

A newborn kitten, eyes still closed, was held in its mouth, gazing innocently at Chen Ying, as if saying, "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Chen Ying, agilely retrieving the kitten from the leopard's mouth, understood why the leopard had managed to bring back such a small thing.

The commotion attracted several people to gather around, yet they couldn't see the kitten in Chen Ying's hand but noticed from his facial expression that something was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Dao Meihua came over and asked.

"This is a fishing cat cub, but it was abandoned. It seems to be congenitally disabled."

Chen Ying opened his hand, letting everyone get a glimpse of the little cub, still with damp fur.

Dao Meihua frowned, looking at the kitten missing its two front paws, choked up, not knowing what to say.

This disabled little creature had no chance of surviving in the wild. Most likely, its mother discarded it, and it was lucky the leopard picked it up.

The leopard is a male, not as meticulous as a female leopard. It only knew Chen Ying liked these little creatures, so it merrily brought it back like a treasure for Chen Ying.

It might have been alright if it hadn't been discovered, but now that it was, nobody could bear to watch the kitten die right before their eyes.

Fortunately, the weather was hot. By drying the newborn's fur in time, it wouldn't die from hypothermia.

The next step was to feed it. The long-unused kit nursery bottle system would finally come into play again.

With many cats at home, Little Sen had studied the formula required for various cat cubs for several years.

Fishing cats are of the leopard cat genus, so feeding it with a leopard cat formula should be fine for now.

The amount of formula he brought was very limited, only as a temporary backup. Supplies needed to be sent over immediately by logistics, preferably with an incubator for manual feeding.

Sending it away wasn't an option for now, simply because the location was too remote, far from any suitable rescue station for feeding young cats. This kitten was too small, with any mishap during transport potentially leading to its premature death.

Unfortunately, they didn't know where the kitten's mother was. Otherwise, they would have tried negotiating to bring it back for nursing, taking it away when they left.

After feeding the kitten its first formula, wrapping it in a towel, Chen Ying handed it over to Dao Meihua to care for, urging the leopard to lead him to the place where the kitten was found, hoping to locate the recently birthing cat mother.

Once the leopard led him to a stop beside a small puddle, Chen Ying fell silent.

The determination of the cat mother to abandon its child was terrifying.

In the middle of the water! If it weren't for the leopard's meddling, the kitten likely would have drowned already.