Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Even the fluffy animals couldn't attract him to stay any longer. The staff member directly pulled his friend along to say goodbye and leave.

After they left, Leopard Sister jumped down from the high platform, came to Professor Bai's side, her tail gently curled around his calf, and quietly looked up at the old man.

"Leopard Sister, Little Ying has found you all a new buddy, but this buddy is quite special and probably won't come to live with us here."

Leopard Sister sighed, resting her chin on Professor Bai's leg as he sat down, her body softly leaning against the recliner where he was seated.

Everything else about Two-legged beasts is fine, except they're fickle!

Isn't there enough fluff at home? Or is it that they're not comfortable enough to make contact with, or perhaps once obtained, they are not cherished?

Professor Bai, smiling, petted the cat, while his other hand picked up a magazine, with reading glasses perched on his nose, enjoying the pleasure of petting fluffy animals while reading the latest veterinary science trends.

Chen Ying received help from the GFA staff, which gave him some ideas, and after communicating with them earlier, he learned that Banna Nature Reserve in Dian Province is also a member of this collaboration plan, which instantly relieved some pressure.

After all, these two Fishing Cats, in terms of ownership, belong to the Banna Nature Reserve. Although they are within the subordinate county-level reserve range, it's legitimate for Banna to take over this matter.

As expected, before that staff member arrived, representatives from Dian Province had already proactively contacted Chen Ying, and before reaching out to him, they had sorted out the matter from other places in advance. Contacting Chen Ying was just to confirm how to proceed with the collaboration.

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

Her position had been upgraded, but her attitude towards Chen Ying was still naturally pleasant, as before.

"I heard earlier that wild Fishing Cats were discovered here, but knowing a team was conducting research, we didn't rush to intervene. After all, once you complete your tasks here, we also need a report from you, so I was thinking of waiting to reap the benefits. Unexpectedly, the problem seems a bit serious. Do you have results for the Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) tests now?"

"Sampling and testing wild animals is very challenging, but judging from the sites, this disease hasn't spread, so the next step is for the epidemic prevention station and the local protection administration bureau to plan concentrated testing on stray cats in the surrounding villages, and additionally set up a buffer zone to reduce contact between stray cats and local wild felines."

It's impossible to prevent entirely, but fortunately, the density of feline animals here is not high. After stationing for so long, they found only two Fishing Cats, plus the possibility of finding a male Fishing Cat. The adult Fishing Cat population should not exceed five.

And they found seven or eight Leopard cats, managed to sample and test them, and the results were good.

After discussing the follow-up disposition of the Fishing Cats, Dao Meihua took the person away, likely having other topics to chat about with the two girls.

When Chen Ying previously intervened during the survey of Fishing Cats' conditions, he also learned some of the current domestic research progress on the subject.

He was aware of the ex-situ conservation plan, but not particularly clear, considering the project's cooperative nature with multiple units. As an individual researcher forming a team, he couldn't be aware of specific matters on the international collaboration front.

Today, talking with the GFA staff, he got to understand some specifics of the ex-situ conservation plan.

The research project his team applied for happened to fill the gap in the plan concerning field research on wild Fishing Cats, which was probably why this application was approved so quickly.

Chen Ying wasn't resentful about doing work that benefits others. After all, the research data is in their hands. How can writing papers be obstructed?

On another note, willingly cooperating with related research and providing relevant data could perhaps earn a co-researcher title, which might not help him much, but it's invaluable credentials for the others in his team! Once mentioned, they too would be part of an international collaborative project, even if just a small part of minimal work.

Chen Ying identified the fundamental reason for accepting the handicapped Little Cub and mother cat was because the plan included population rebuilding, aiming to establish a sustainable captive breeding population of at least fifty individual animals (genetic diversity ≥95%) within ten years.

Though Little Cub had physical impairments, its genetic makeup might be intact.

Additionally, Little Cub's mother, the mentally troubled female Fishing Cat, could indeed undertake the task of artificial breeding. Trusting in the captive environment, with human assistance, the survival rate of her offspring would substantially increase, and she wouldn't need to face the cruel blow of juvenile mortality anymore.

Ah, three objectives accomplished!

After communication with the veterinarians and staff responsible for epidemic prevention, they compiled the information before moving on to the next step, investigating stray cats.

"Dr. Chen, two dead stray cat bodies were found over in Manwang Village." The call was from the epidemic prevention station's staff, "The Forest Patrol Officer and Veterinarian following me have already brought back the two cats' bodies for examination. Veterinarian Yi Mu suspects these cats might have died from FIP; now, we need to focus our investigation on the forest and aquatic areas near Manwang Village."

Chen Ying opened the map; near Manwang Village is a river and a wetland area of considerable size with plenty of wild animals. If FIP was indeed found spreading, the intensity of subsequent disinfection work won't be small.