I have a wildlife zoo

Fang Ye finally said, "Snakes are an important part of the ecosystem as well. I hope that through understanding snakes, everyone can overcome their fear and view them with a more peaceful mindset."

"Ribbit ribbit ribbit!"

The visitors once again burst into applause.

After listening to Fang Ye's explanation about snakes and acquiring this knowledge, they really didn't seem as scary as they had imagined!

Some visitors who were originally afraid of snakes thought to themselves that they would bravely try to look at the snakes in the exhibit next time they encountered them.

Daigo said, "Director... "

But he was interrupted by Lili right as he started to speak!

She squeezed him aside, took out a notebook and a pen from her bag, and said with excitement, "Director, Director, could you give me an autograph? I'm your newest fan!"

"What's there for a plain zoo director like me to sign?"

Although Fang Ye said this, he still gave his enthusiastic little fan an autograph.

"Thank you, Director!"

Daigo: "Direc... "

Lin Hao squeezed him aside, excitedly saying, "Director, I've been watching your live streams for a long time! I'm an old fan, I've even sent you tips!"

Fang Ye quickly replied, "Oh, you want an autograph too, right? Okay."

With swift strokes, he flamboyantly signed another one.

Looking at Daigo, Fang Ye found his clothes somewhat familiar: "Hey, I seem to have seen you before, you seem to come to our zoo often. Do you also want an autograph?"

Finally, Daigo got a chance to speak, and he hurriedly said, "Director, no, I've created a 'Linhai Zoo Enthusiasts' group, and now we have over a hundred members. Director, you should join the group too, I can make you the group owner!"

"Yes, yes, please join the group, Director!" Lili also warmly invited.

"Ah, let's just leave it at that. Just have fun with the group you've created. If I join, I won't be much use; I'll just lurk..."

Fang Ye pondered for a moment and politely declined.

If everyone in the group enthusiastically wanted to greet or ask him a couple of questions, whether he replied or not, he was busy every day.

Not responding would seem impolite, and people might think him cold.

That was his main concern!

Usually, interacting with visitors during live streams and inspections of the exhibits was enough.

After being rejected, Daigo thought fast: "Director, does the zoo need volunteers or anything like that? The friends in our enthusiasts' group really love Linhai Zoo, and if you need volunteers, you can just mention it in the group!

Plus, the zoo usually provides enrichment for the animals, right? If our homes have some unused recyclables, like cardboard boxes, we can bring them over as enrichment supplies. It's recycling and practicing environmental protection, right?"
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This time, Fang Ye was genuinely moved; he was considering the volunteer matter!

With the increasing number of visitors to the zoo, behaviors like feeding and tapping on the glass could be handled by volunteers, or just having a volunteer in a work uniform standing in front of the glass wall would naturally reduce such uncivilized behavior.

Otherwise, animal keepers have to feed the animals, give explanations, and also deal with explaining to visitors, which is too tiring.

Having volunteers would reduce a lot of trouble!

So why not simply hire more animal keepers?

Linhai Zoo's standards for hiring animal keepers are quite high!

They also offer very high salaries, basically double that of other zoos.

It is only during holidays when there are more visitors that there is a need for someone to discourage uncivil behavior; otherwise, the animal keepers can manage fine. Hiring too many would be wasteful, wouldn't it.

Just hiring civil conduct officers wouldn't work either, because the salaries can't be too high, and people wouldn't be willing to work for less.

So being a volunteer is the best choice!

They love the zoo and are motivated to contribute.

As for the enrichment materials Daigo mentioned, Linhai Zoo isn't lacking in funding, so that's not a problem.

I glanced at Daigo, smiled, and said, "Alright, then I'll join the group!"

"Haha! Welcome, Director!"

Daigo was very happy upon hearing this. They took out their phones, scanned each other's QR codes, and just like that, Fang Ye joined the group.

Dirty Hollywood Night: "This newbie is so arrogant, daring to call themselves 'Linhai's Wu Yanzu'! Where does that leave me?"

Chunyu Jiangshanglai: "Welcome, new member!"

Sent an emoji waving a glow stick.

Yuezuo: "Eh, Yanzu's profile picture is an Ice Cake, right? I love Ice Cakes too. But where did you get this picture of an Ice Cake drinking milk? I've never seen it before, can you share it?"

Daigo: "Haha, didn't expect that, did you? I brought the Director into the group!"

Fang Ye: "Hehe, hi everyone."

The group exploded with surprise: "Shocked!"

"Really?"

Lili: "Yeah, we saw the Director in the reptiles and amphibians exhibit today. I'm right next to him now!"

After Fang Ye joined the group and chatted briefly, he went quiet. He didn't bring up the matter of volunteering; he would need to give a heads-up to the Youth League first.

Additionally, they needed to figure out what kind of support the zoo could offer the volunteers. This meant they should seriously consider writing a formal announcement about it.

...

After finishing their visit to the reptiles and amphibians exhibit, Daigo and the others walked towards the exit, talking excitedly.

Lili swiped through the photos on her phone, her eyes sparkling with excitement, and nudged her boyfriend: "The spiny bush viper is so beautiful! It's stunning, look at these willow leaf-like scales!"

Lili's boyfriend had a different opinion: "I think among all these snakes, the sunbeam snake is the prettiest. It looks like a rainbow. Now I finally understand what 'radiantly black' means."

"I prefer the spiny bush viper, it kind of looks like a dragon. And the panther chameleon—the colors are truly dazzling.

Speaking of which, it's almost time for lunch, where should we eat?" Lin Hao checked the time, it was already 12 noon.

They had arrived at 9 in the morning, having walked around for 3 hours.

Daigo rubbed his stomach: "Wow, if you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed. I'm starving! How about the Lion Restaurant?"

Lili immediately objected: "The Lion Restaurant is so expensive, I'm not as wealthy as you. After one meal there, I'd only have enough left for instant noodles. Let's go to a restaurant near the entrance instead."

With that, they walked out of the exhibit.

Outside, the scenery was drastically different from inside!

Before their eyes lay an expansive rest area, with floors paved in light white and brown patterned wood.

Scattered around the flower beds were ornamental trees like sweet osmanthus, varnish trees, and palms. The branches of the sweet osmanthus trees were adorned with small golden blossoms that wafted a rich and refreshing fragrance with the wind, making one feel carefree and relaxed.

At the edge of the service area ran a clear, gurgling creek, which seemed to have red koi swimming in it. Some children were squatting on rocks, observing the fish swimming in the stream. Beside them stood a sign that said "No Washing Feet Here."

Since the stream was shallow, there were no guardrails.

Tables were scattered around the rest area, with folding chairs beside them. Visitors lounged in the chairs, sitting or lying back comfortably, chatting and laughing with happy and relaxed expressions.

For a moment, all of them were slightly stunned by the view.