Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

After instructing the caregiver to pay attention to the condition of the kittens' limbs daily, Chen Ying turned back to contact the caregiver at the base.

As for the child's condition, whether it can adapt to the wild environment over there at the base remains a question mark.

If the limb-end issues are not resolved, it is impossible to let it roam in the wild. So the problem circles back: should a double wild cub be raised as a pet cat?

This problem shouldn't trouble him alone; let's all brainstorm together, there must be a way to solve the problem.

In the following week, all observation personnel stationed in the wild were called back.

The initial excitement now turned into sighs; over roughly a month, they had only discovered two female cats and one male cat.

Additionally, the young male cat that appeared midway was finally determined to have crossed the border back to its own home.

The results from the genetic testing showed that, including Yunyun, the offspring of the three female cats had paternal genes originating from that male cat. However, the pieces put together from recollections by Yunyun and the mother Fishing Cat were not optimistic. The male cat was quite old, making it hard to say whether other male cats would come to take over its mission.

Yunyun's offspring are products of natural genetic hybridization. Being born was already a stroke of luck, and whether they could breed the next generation remains anyone's guess.

In the litter outside the village school, there are three females and one male. Not only is this gender ratio less than promising, but even if the male cat matures, inbreeding is not an option.

The pressure has shifted to the current ex-situ conservation project, where they are accelerating the pilot process. In the Fishing Cat rewilding training base at the Sun River Wetland, artificially bred cubs have started the "live fish catch rate test."

After entrusting the disabled cub and its psychologically fragile mother to the project team staff who came over, Chen Ying and their survey team prepared to cross the border to continue the second phase of observation missions at the Nanha Wetland Reserve.

"Regarding the survival status of the Fishing Cat in our territory, you all should have a clear understanding, right?"

Chen Ying tapped the table, "I happen to have a DNA fecal sampling result done by the international team in this area over the past two years, which currently show that the genetic diversity index of the population has fallen below the healthy threshold. Our main task this time is to observe the status of those Fishing Cats introduced from Tonle Sap Lake and determine whether they have participated in the local Fishing Cat population's breeding."

This part of the task is somewhat like an outsourcing job; they took on a piece of work that the partner organization needed to conduct in the initial introduction project.

Furthermore, the Nanha River Reserve originally planned to introduce artificially bred Fishing Cats from domestically within a year or two to improve the local population's genetic issues, and Chen Ying and their research happened to complete a puzzle for this plan.

With the promotion of International Fishing Cat Alliances and other organizations, infrared cameras have covered over sixty percent of the Core Zone of the Nanha River Reserve. Once Chen Ying and the team arrive, they only need to set up observation posts according to needs.

Local staff and guides will also assist, ensuring safety shouldn't be a significant concern. Not to mention the Dao family values this matter greatly and even dispatched a security team to assist.

Of course, this security team can't enter overtly but will act as staff, with one to two personnel per small team responsible for the safety of team members.

Coincidentally, some acquaintances from the team Chen Ying interacted with during the Asian Elephant project were also participating in the joint investigation of Asian Elephants locally, with their task being the preliminary research for "restoring ecological corridors at the China-Laos Border and installing animal bridges."

And because it involves engineering knowledge, there are quite a few non-zoologists in that team.

While chatting with those engineering personnel that evening, Chen Ying gained a deeper understanding of how the two dams upstream of the Nanha River affect fish reproduction, thereby indirectly impacting the survival of Fishing Cats.

However, these issues aren't something an animal conservationist like him can solve, at most just sigh over. After all, our country has also driven many fish species to the brink of extinction, or even declared them extinct in the wild, due to similar problems.

Human development and nature's sorrow are sometimes difficult to judge concerning the right choice.

The preparatory work took two days, and finally, Chen Ying and the team were to be deployed at three observation points for about ten days to collect biological samples of Fishing Cats around the observation points and determine the end time based on actual observations.

Overall, the task wasn't too difficult, and the conditions were much better than expected.

However, sometimes reality is more dramatic than novels or TV dramas.

On the fifth day, one of the infrared cameras captured a stunning and indescribable scene.

A family of Asian Elephants, with more than ten individuals, happened to pass by the second point, which was the largest observation point where Chen Ying happened to be stationed.

Moreover, it just so happened that Chen Ying, his assistant, and a Ph.D. student were lying in advance by a water source with equipment, waiting for the Fishing Cat to appear.

This Fishing Cat had already been identified as a female introduced from Dong Sari Lake, and from previous camera data retrieved, it appears this Fishing Cat might be expecting soon.

Ahead, an abandoned otter den was chosen by the Fishing Cat as its nursing chamber.