Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 60: Whose Good Bear Would Take a Fancy to a Street Rat?

The transshipment team arrived the next afternoon.

Leading the team was Teacher Luo, the Giant Panda Rescue Center coordinator.

"You've been diligent, just as the center has been looking into the feasibility of introducing wild female giant pandas to improve the captive panda gene pool. Mendun'er will be sent to the breeding base for further examination, and if determined to be sexually mature, it will likely be temporarily placed in a semi-wild area while waiting to naturally pair with other male pandas."

Teacher Luo patted Chen Ying on the shoulder. "If this succeeds, you'll be the main contributor."

"If it succeeds, it's all thanks to the colleagues at the base. By the way, I heard the base plans to release four female giant pandas back into the wild next year; can you try to secure one for us?"

Teacher Luo had the same idea, but the decision had to be made by the leaders.

The morning after Mendun'er was sent off, Dr. Gao returned only to head up the mountain with three volunteers to go bird-watching.

Once everyone left and the pandas gone, the Rescue Station became momentarily quiet.

Little Sen felt a bit lost, locking himself in the Panda House all day, staring blankly at the Qingtuan Mendun'er had left behind.

"If you're bored, why not check on the Large Spirit Cat family?"

These past few days had been hectic, and aside from monitoring the Spiritual Cat Mother via surveillance, no one had really had time to check on the Large Spirit Cat Cubs.

Although Little Sen mainly focused on pandas, he was still a veterinary student capable of observing and caring for other animals; it was just that he was unfamiliar, not incapable.

Finding himself something to do, he excitedly took a bag of rabbit meat to the outside of the Large Spirit Cat Mother's burrow.

Not daring to get too close, he found a convenient spot to hide and observed the Large Spirit Cat Mother through binoculars, hoping to place the rabbit meat near the burrow while the Spiritual Cat Mother went out to hunt.

But as he watched, he began to feel something was off.

After the Large Spirit Cat Mother emerged from the burrow, she didn't rush to hunt. Instead, she leisurely groomed her fur and stretched her body vigorously.

Little Sen muttered to himself, this didn't make sense. Could a mother with cubs really be this relaxed?

Before he could figure it out, he saw a familiar animal running over from the opposite side.

Little Sen almost yelped in shock.

Although unsure whether the Lynx would attack the Large Spirit Cat, under normal circumstances, even if not eaten, it would likely bite.

However, what happened next shocked him.

Jinya dropped a large rat near the entrance of the burrow, then leaped onto a tree and laid down.

The Large Spirit Cat Mother came over, sniffed the rat, and started eating without hesitation.

"What's this insane twist? Am I still half asleep?"

Little Sen rubbed his eyes hard. The Large Spirit Cat Mother seemed to hear something, stopped tearing at the meat, and looked around warily.

Jinya on the tree had already noticed Little Sen, and seeing this, yelped.

The Large Spirit Cat Mother hesitated slightly before looking up at Jinya, then lowered her head to continue eating, but much faster.

After finishing, the Large Spirit Cat Mother didn't bother cleaning up the scraps and dived back into the burrow.

Once the Large Spirit Cat Mother was back in the burrow, Jinya came down and slowly approached Little Sen, tilting her head as she looked at him.

For some reason, seeing Jinya's expression made Little Sen feel like he was caught spying.

After locking eyes with Jinya for a minute, he conceded defeat, got up to pack his stuff, and headed back.

Jinya followed behind him, acting like a supervisor.

Back at the Rescue Station, Little Sen whispered his complaints to Little Song and Duanmu.

"You have no idea; when I saw Jinya feeding the Large Spirit Cat Mother, I started questioning life."

Little Sen's exaggerated expression made Little Song cover her mouth, laughing uncontrollably, while Duanmu rolled his eyes unimpressed.

"You still lack experience. Jinya even takes care of Brother Ying by taking care of the Large Spirit Cat; isn't that normal?"

"Normal… huh?" Little Sen scratched his head, bewildered. "I guess it is, huh."

Unable to hold back, Little Song burst into laughter. The Golden Cat napping on the platform got startled, jumped up, and nearly stumbled off.

"You, are you naturally this clueless, or is it just an act?"

Duanmu laughed, slapped him on the head, and got up to pick up Little Jin.

"I'll take it for an ultrasound to see how its abdominal recovery is going. Little Song, come help me, and check its blood while you're at it."

Watching Duanmu and Little Song leave side by side, Little Sen tilted his head, "Why does it feel so odd? Duanmu wouldn't really make his move, would he?"

Chen Ying came out of the second floor office and saw Little Sen squatting in the yard alone.

"What are you doing? If you've got nothing else, come help me take stock of the medical supplies. We'll go up the mountain again tomorrow."

"Going up the mountain? Did you find an injured animal?"

Chen Ying choked, "Can't you hope for something good?"

"The breeding center plans to release four giant pandas into the wild next March for rewilding. I mentioned it to Teacher Luo, hoping to release one here. Some preparatory work needs to be done in advance."

"There are also other animals' winter preparations we need to be aware of."

In winter, heavy snow seals the mountains, and without sufficient preparation of materials and medical equipment, it would be difficult to deliver anything up there.

The last time Leopard Sister came, she mentioned that a pregnant mother bear seemed to have arrived in the mountains.

The bears that usually roamed around here were black bears, and mother bears often mated in summer, with a pregnancy lasting up to seven months.

By calculation, if this mother bear got pregnant in June, the birthing period would be around January.

Then with the food scarcity and cold weather, if care was not taken, the cubs might tragically die.

Chen Ying also considered one thing—that the cub probably wouldn't resemble a street rat, right?

If it really were a street rat's cub... just thinking about another street rat in these mountains gave him the creeps.

(Young version of a street rat)

When Yin Li heard that he was going to look for the mother bear, he volunteered to go together.

With Master Yi and Duanmu and Little Song at the station, they could be contacted directly by phone.

Their first stop was straight to Huaqiu Valley.

Leopard Sister said she saw the mother bear between Huaqiu Valley and the mountain gully, so the area centered around Huaqiu Valley might be her wintering choice.

Yin Li's presence would also help in retrieving the images from the infrared cameras to see if any of them captured the mother bear's tracks.

They set out at seven in the morning and only by around four in the afternoon did they find a bear shadow in the infrared camera on the southern side of the gully.

Based solely on one not very clear photo, it was impossible to tell whether it was a male or female bear. But it was clear this bear was not a street rat.

"Assuming from territory behavior that the area wouldn't accommodate another male, this one's most likely the mother bear."

As Yin Li spoke, he also discovered fresh bear paw prints on the nearby tree trunk.

A pregnant mother bear would consciously avoid male bears, seeking a safe tree hollow or rock crevice as a place to give birth.

Now that it was confirmed that black bears were roaming this area, Yin Li led Chen Ying and Little Sen directly to the place most likely to be the black bear's birthing den.

On their search, they continuously found fresh feces and claw marks, indicating they were getting closer to the mother bear.

"I remember there's a rocky area near the gully ahead. Do you think the black bear might look for a place to bear her cubs there?"

Yin Li pulled up the map and pointed to a spot.

"I'm more inclined towards a tree hollow. The rocky area has little vegetation, and it lacks the plants black bears favor. If the mother bear is pregnant, she needs to eat a lot, and a rocky cave wouldn't provide enough food."

Chen Ying had a different opinion; he leaned toward the mother bear choosing the woods to winter in.

"Alright, then let's head in the northwest direction. That side is the Old Forest, lots of big trees, plenty of tree hollows."

They definitely wouldn't make it back tonight, they would have to spend the night in the wilderness.

They hoped to find a safe campsite before nightfall.

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This request was soon fulfilled.

But at the same time, they also faced a dilemma: the tree hollow nearby, if not surprisingly, was the den of the black bear they were looking for!

The most daunting part was, they had just checked that tree hollow when the mother bear and a street rat simultaneously appeared not far off, each displaying strong aggressiveness towards the other.

Good news: Observationally, there's an eighty percent chance the street rat isn't the mother bear's favored mate.

Bad news: The threatened mother bear is about to go off the charts in combat power!

Could they escape?