Chapter 151 Snow Leopard (Part 9)
Zhu Mi was only thinking about "rescuing his sisters", so he secretly followed the rescue station staff.
While they were carrying the male leopard down the mountain, Yu Yiyun followed them secretly and quietly found out the specific situation of the local base.
Snow leopards and blue sheep are both nationally protected animals. They live in dangerous places and are often injured by falling off cliffs.
The injured leopard was sent to the rescue station and was first examined and treated by a veterinarian.
The veterinarian, who has been specializing in rescuing snow leopards for thirty years, is very experienced and can guess the cause of the injury at a glance.
"Look at his appearance. He must have had a fight with another leopard. Look at his back and neck. There are leopard's tooth marks on them."
The veterinarian approached the male leopard and while treating the wound, he muttered, "Look at you, when you encounter a mother leopard with cubs, you should just change your target. A forced melon is not sweet. Now you are bitten by both the big and the small, right?"
The male leopard was annoyed at losing the cat, so he covered his eyes with his uninjured front paw and slowly closed himself.
The veterinarian did not let him go. He took away the male leopard's claws and began to do a detailed physical examination.
Snow leopards live on the top of high mountains all year round. To cope with the cold and extreme terrain, healthy snow leopards store thick layers of fat.
The fat layer can not only maintain body temperature, but also reduce the damage to internal organs in case of falling off a cliff.
This male leopard was perched on a hilltop, and his body was exceptionally strong.
In addition, it is just the beginning of spring and the ice and snow in the high-altitude areas have not yet melted, so the accumulated snow can serve as a buffer.
The male leopard fell from a height, and except for a broken leg, its internal organs miraculously did not suffer much damage.
The veterinarian treated the wound skillfully, rubbed the wilted leopard, and sighed softly.
"Looking at your condition, I'm afraid you'll have to be sent to the zoo again after your injuries are healed."
The veterinary assistant next to him answered at the right time, "Doctor, how is the female leopard that we sent to the zoo a few months ago doing now?"
The veterinarian thought for a moment and replied, "She went on a hunger strike in the zoo and attacked keepers and visitors several times. The zoo believed that the female leopard was still wild, so she was sent back to the rescue station for reintroduction."
Yu Yiyun, who was observing secretly, was overjoyed when she heard these words.
You know, the Tibet Autonomous Region is vast and sparsely populated, with mountains and grasslands everywhere.
There are only two zoos in the entire 1.2 million square kilometers, and it is not known where the mother leopard will be sent.
With Yu Yiyun's sense of direction, finding the zoo where the mother leopard was was harder than climbing to the sky.
At this moment, the female leopard was sent back to the rescue station for wildness training. Considering various factors, the wildness base must not be too far from the rescue station.
The piglet shook his long tail and quietly left the veterinary treatment room, using the cat radar to start the search mode.
After walking back and forth twice, Yu Yiyun finally caught a faint howl.
He shook his ears and instantly captured the current location of Yuanyuan and Feifei's mother.
The rewilding base that the rescue station arranged for the mother leopard was indeed located on a hill near the rescue station, blending into the natural environment as much as possible.
Since the rescue station was established, it has helped many injured snow leopards.
Some snow leopards are so badly injured that they lose the ability to survive in the wild and must be sent to zoos for artificial care.
Some snow leopards recovered from their injuries, but they were used to a life of plenty, so they were unable to hunt on their own and managed to get themselves a job based on their own strength.
If they encounter a snow leopard that is still wild and has a chance to return to the wild, the rescue station staff will raise it separately and keep a distance from the beginning to prevent wild animals from getting too close to humans.
It is indeed rare for a female leopard to be artificially fed for half a year, get accustomed to zoo life, and be ready to be released again.
Considering that the female leopard has not hunted for half a year, it will definitely starve to death if released directly into its habitat.
The staff of the rescue station consulted remotely with rescue agencies with rewilding experience, and learned a lot of experience from the Tiger Return to the Mountains team, which had species with similar habits.
After discussion, they developed a rewilding plan for the mother leopard, which consisted of three steps.
First, keep snow leopards away from human society and allow them to re-adapt to the wild environment.
Secondly, simulate the real conditions of a snow leopard's life and test her ability to deal with danger.
The last and most important point is to test her hunting ability.
The female leopard was born and raised in the snow and spent nearly half of her life in the mountains.
Even after half a year of comfortable life, the wildness of a top hunter was not diminished much, and he quickly got used to life in the mountains.
In the first two events, the female leopard performed well and showed excellent adaptability.
The problem is——
Yu Yiyun followed the sound and came to the rewilding base surrounded by high fences.
The keeper picked up a fat free-range chicken, threw it in front of the female leopard, then took out a stopwatch and started timing.
The piglet quickly jumped to a high place, found a perfect viewing area, and stared at the free-range chicken with envy.
“Meow?” Such a fat chicken must be delicious, right?
The free-range chickens sensed the dangerous gaze of the top predator and paced back and forth anxiously in the huge enclosure.
After about five minutes, a leopard with broad shoulders and a big waist, with stripes on its body stretched into a horizontal oval and three chins when it lowered its head, slowly appeared on the scene.
Her belly seemed heavy, and people who didn't know her might think that snow leopards also had a pouch like domestic cats (soft fat hanging from the belly of some cats).
"Meow?"
Yu Yiyun traveled all over the world and for the first time encountered a big cat that looked more like a pig than herself.
I don't know if she was naturally plump, or if she became fat so quickly after entering the zoo and being fed the pig-like diet.
The keeper urged anxiously for a long time, and when he saw the female leopard finally walk out of the "bedroom", he clapped his hands excitedly to attract attention.
"Lily, catch the chicken! Don't come over here, catch the chicken!" The breeder pointed at the lively chicken and stamped his feet anxiously.
The female leopard Lily obviously recognized the keeper and walked straight towards him.
"Wow!" I'm hungry, I want to eat!
"Lily, I know you are hungry. Let's catch the chickens first and then eat." The breeder coaxed and persuaded her, and he wished he could help catch the chickens himself.
After some persuasion, Lily finally realized that she must catch the chicken today.
She took a step with her paws and slowly walked towards the sturdy free-range chicken.
The free-range rooster has a certain ability to fly. It felt a strong sense of oppression and walked around restlessly in the pen.
The breeder was pleased, "That's good. Although our Lily is slow, she can suppress the blood of the chickens."
Just as the words fell, the free-range chicken flapped its wings and flew over Lily's head.
Lily hesitated for a full ten seconds before slowly raising her head and looking at the free-range chicken running away. Her eyes were extremely clear.
"Alas!" The keeper sighed heavily, "My dear leopard, please catch it. I won't be able to report this way."
Yu Yiyun, who was in a high position, witnessed the dark history of her peers and laughed in a particularly wicked way.
Then he thought, the female leopard is Yuanyuan and Feifei's biological mother, and Zhumi's smile slowly disappeared.
If the current Lily were to return to the mountains, she wouldn't be able to take care of Feifei and Yuanyuan.
The pig, who is responsible for supporting the family, may need to be fed an extra leopard-shaped rice bucket.
Yu Yiyun lowered her eyes and looked at the female leopard's body, which was as big as a sheep, and a sense of crisis arose spontaneously.
"Meow!" Come on!
"Meow meow meow!" If you can't even catch a chicken, how can you feed your cubs?
Lily, who was originally lazy, suddenly became sharp when she heard the calls of her own kind.
She awakened her talent as a leopard, spread her paws to speed up, and bravely pounced on the chicken.
“Oooooh!”
The rooster flapped its wings and escaped quickly. Before flying away, it pecked off a hair on the female leopard's ear.
“Hoo…Hoo…”
Lily lay down on the spot, panting with exhaustion.
"Lily, come on!"
“Meow!”
Lily was encouraged again, and she tried to get up and pounce on the big cock.
After three consecutive attacks, Lily finally found her chance and, with the agility of a cat, bit the rooster's wing.
The keeper pressed the stopwatch with mixed feelings.
"43 minutes and 58 seconds. Although it is an improvement over the last three hours, it is still far from the rewilding standard."
The keeper sighed, shook his head, and turned to leave the pen.
Yu Yiyun watched him go away and nodded in agreement.
Yes, that's how it should be!
Cats should not be spoiled, a loving mother often spoils her cats!
This thought just flashed through Zhumi's mind.
“Squeak—”
The wooden door of the pen was opened again, and the breeder came in carrying a large iron bucket.
Lily smelled the fragrance and immediately abandoned the free-range chickens that were difficult to eat and needed to be plucked. She rushed to the breeder and yelled for food.
"Lily, you have made great progress today. In addition to beef and mutton, I have also prepared a reward for you." The breeder reached into the iron bucket and took out a large piece of salmon.
salmon!
The pig stretched out its neck and performed pupil shaking on the spot, with a wolfish green light coming out of its eyes.
Hiss~
During the years when he was a killer whale and a bald eagle, Yu Yijun used salmon as his staple food, which made the brown bears so angry that they could not help but feel helpless when they saw him.
However, salmon is a high-end food for people and animals living in inland areas.
No matter how powerful a wild snow leopard is, it is impossible to catch salmon in the Himalayas.
Lily's keeper, who rarely gets to eat salmon himself, actually spent a huge amount of money to buy such a big piece as a reward for his leopard.
You know, salmon is fresh.
Some sellers are even unwilling to ship the goods when they see that the delivery address is in Tibet!
"Eat quickly, and then we'll continue practicing hunting. You can do it!"
The keeper didn't mind Lily at all for being a slow learner. He gave her a few gentle instructions and then turned and left the pen.
Although Lily wanted to return to the two cubs as soon as possible, she clearly had feelings for the keeper. She looked at the nanny's back, purred twice in a friendly manner, lowered her head and picked up the salmon... Where's the salmon? !
"call?"
Lily stuck her head into the bucket and smelled salmon, but the meat was gone.
She turned her head in confusion and saw a sub-adult snow leopard squatting behind her, munching on its own piece of fish and meowing a lot of nonsense.
"Meow... meow!" You... your keeper is so stupid. Does he know how to make a rewilding plan?
"Meow meow meow?" If I feed you so much meat every day, can you learn to hunt?
To cultivate the wildness of an animal, it is best to keep it hungry so as to stimulate its desire for prey.
The keeper was afraid that Lily would starve, so in addition to the food provided by the rescue station, she also bought fish for her at her own expense.
How could a leopard that is well-fed and has no pressure to survive be interested in hunting?
"Meow!" I always say that a loving mother is always a loser!
"Meow~" Don't worry, I will help you eat the meat, and you can practice hunting hard!
Snow leopards are mysterious and elegant, and will even spend hours enjoying a meal if no other animals are disturbing them.
Lily has been a leopard for so long, but this is the first time she has seen one of her kind eat in such an untidy manner.
In the blink of an eye, the big piece of salmon was eaten cleanly.
In the blink of an eye, the mutton and beef in the barrel were gone.
Lily looked at the iron bucket again. A little snow leopard appeared out of nowhere and stuck its head in to lick the blood.
"Wow!" Bad cat, that's my meal!
Lily worked so hard for so long, but the reward she finally got was eaten up by the pig.
She suddenly got angry and attacked the bad cat with her claws.
However, after being spoiled for half a year, Lily's current size has seriously affected her ability to move, and she can't even touch a hair of the snow leopard.
After chasing for several minutes, Lily was so tired that she was panting and secretly decided to back down.
Forget it, it’s just a few pieces of meat.
Anyway, I still have free-range chickens...what about the chickens?
Lily tilted her head back and opened her three-layered chin, looking in the direction where the chicken had just been taken away.
The foreign snow leopard picked up the chicken, plucked its feathers skillfully, and happily jumped out of the fence.
"Wow!" My chicken!
Lily broke through the defense and pounced on the little snow leopard with her paws.
Unfortunately, she was too fat now and couldn’t jump over the fence, so she scratched the wooden boards with her claws and yelled.
The keeper heard the noise in the pen and quickly pushed the door open.
The breeder looked at Lily in surprise when he found that the bucket was clean and only the feathers of the free-range chickens were left.
"Lily, you ate so much today?"
“Wow!”
"The amount of exercise is not excessive..."
“Wow!”
Lily collapsed and yelled, almost speaking human language.
'Who eats more?'
"Did I eat it?"
The keeper checked around the enclosure and found no trace of food.
Lily was the only leopard in the enclosure, so the missing food must have gone into Lily's stomach.
The keeper concluded, stroking his hair worriedly.
"We just had a meeting to discuss this. The experts from the Tiger Returns team suggested that we train cats to hunt and not feed them too much. And you're a little... stocky now."
The breeder carefully chose his words, using relatively euphemistic terms, and did not tell the girl directly that she was too fat.
"So, starting tomorrow, your feeding standard will be reduced by half, and there will be no extra meals." The breeder informed Lily of the unfortunate news, and looked at Lily's belly with a worried look, "Oh no, I fed you so much today, you won't have indigestion, will you?"
“Wow!”
You are the one who has indigestion!
[Leopard Leopard Grievance.jpg]
Lily was optimistic that as long as she could survive tonight and make it to feeding time tomorrow, she would get food.
Unexpectedly, at mealtime the next day, as soon as the keeper put down the food, the little snow leopard appeared on time.
Hunting wild snow leopards depends entirely on luck, so it is very normal for them to go hungry for three to five days.
But Lily was sent to the zoo, where she had three meals on time and snacks, and her biological clock had already formed a habit.
Seeing the little snow leopard coming to steal her food again, Lily exploded in a second, protecting the iron bucket and breathing loudly.
As a result, after laughing for a long time, the little snow leopard was not afraid at all and was even too lazy to hide. It was obvious that it did not take the slow-moving and low-attack mother leopard seriously.
The mother leopard was provoked and raised her claws to pounce on the little snow leopard, using force to protect her food.
After several fights, the female leopard worked hard and finally protected two pieces of meat, which weighed about one pound in total.
After two days of hunger, a pound of meat is just enough to fill the gaps between teeth.
The female leopard, who usually went back to her bedroom to sleep after dinner, was so angry that she couldn't sleep.
Thinking that the little snow leopard might appear again, she walked around the enclosure a few times and began to sharpen her claws on wooden stakes and walls to practice her climbing ability.
A week passed like this, and the breeder threw another free-range chicken into the pen.
Lily pounced over immediately, her eyes flashing with wild ferocity.
The moment she grabbed the chicken's neck, the breeder pressed the stopwatch and only three minutes had passed.
"Oh my god, Lily you're amazing!"
The breeder jumped up with joy, praising wildly:
"The advice of the Tiger Returns Team is indeed effective. You have now learned how to catch chickens. Next -"
"Wow!" Next, can I go home?
The breeder told her, “It’s time to learn how to catch sheep.”
"..." Lily was silent for a moment.
The breeder explained helplessly, "There's nothing we can do. The snow mountain is too high. We can't airdrop the free-range chickens to you."
Compared to the Qinling Mountains where prey is everywhere, the levels that the snow leopard has to challenge are too difficult.
"Actually, the experts advised us to wait until you learn how to catch calves before releasing them. Because mountain goats are so difficult to catch, we have to make sure you have enough survival skills."
Piglet squatted on a high place and nodded in agreement.
Mountain sheep are so difficult to catch. I haven’t learned how to do it yet!
Lily seemed to understand what he said, but anger rolled in her throat.
The keeper patiently explained, "You can't catch prey, you can't even feed yourself, how can you take care of the cubs?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the angry sound in Lily's throat miraculously stopped, and she turned around and continued to sharpen her claws.
Yu Yijun looked into Lily's eyes from afar and found that the wildness that had been mostly worn away had returned to Lily's animal eyes.
"Meow!" You have to walk the rest of the way by yourself!
"Meow meow~" Feifei and Yuanyuan are waiting for you to come home~
The pig, who didn't know how to catch the mountain goat, called out twice and turned away from Lily's pen.
He firmly believed that it would not be long before Lily would return to the cubs.
The "teaching" mission was over. A pig that was good at petty theft grabbed a large piece of salmon and happily returned to its nest.
Cats naturally like to eat fish. The piglet was so tempted by the salmon in his mouth that he refused to eat it and planned to take it back for his dear mom to taste.
Wild snow leopards living in the Himalayas have to reincarnate seven times before they have the chance to eat fish from the Pacific Ocean.
Yu Yiyun jumped up and down and rushed towards her mother.
Before he got close, he heard two voices in the distance.
"meow~"
"Hoooo!"
"meow~"
Warm spring has arrived, and the activities of alpine blue sheep are becoming more frequent.
The breeding season of blue sheep is slightly earlier than that of snow leopards, concentrated in December and January.
A successfully mated female blue sheep will leave the flock during the birthing season and find a secluded place to give birth to her cubs.
Wait until the cubs are a little older and then bring them back to the flock to live together.
With his rich hunting experience, Ram successfully caught a blue sheep.
She did not enjoy the meal alone, but called her cubs home to eat, but received no response.
This time, the cubs were away from home for an unusually long time.
Ram was worried, so she followed the scent left by the cub and accidentally ran into another snow leopard.
The snow leopard breeding season had not yet ended. Ram saw that the strange leopard was a male, and the memory of being attacked by a male last time was revived.
Ram quickly became alert, leaned down, and breathed fiercely at the male.
When the male snow leopard saw her, he did not show any aggression and tentatively approached Ram.
Ram lay down where he was, protecting his spine from attack, giving his limbs a greater range of motion, and raised his claws to scratch the 'strange' male leopard.
The male leopard raised his head to avoid Ram's attack and lowered his head to sniff her scent.
The two leopards were very close to each other, so Ram naturally smelled the scent of the male leopard.
Various factors indicated that he was strong, young, and a suitable spouse.
Gradually, Ram's attack power weakened, and she followed her instinct to exchange scent with the male leopard.
She got up, walked around to the back and sniffed the base of the male leopard's tail. It felt both superior and familiar.
Why familiar?
Ram was too lazy to delve into the reasons; his reproductive instinct and his vigilance against enemy animals were torn between two forces.
Finally, she decided to follow her instincts and court the male leopard.
Just at this moment, Ram heard the baby's smacking sound and raised his hand to scratch the male leopard with his claws.
The male leopard who was about to get to the point: "..."
What's wrong with my wife?
It's been tickling me since just now.
[Leopard Leopard Grievance.jpg]
Yu Yiyun followed the sound and ran to the animal, then saw Mommy attacking Daddy with her teeth and claws.
"Meow?"
Yu Yiyun was stunned.
My parents are fighting, who should I help?
After thinking for 0.3 seconds, Yu Yiyun stood beside Mommy without hesitation, put down the salmon in her mouth, and breathed fiercely at Leopard Dad.
When Leopard Dad heard the voice of his cub, he thought that this kid would definitely be on his side after eating so many of his sheep.
But I didn't know that he was obviously biased and drove me away together with his wife.
The aggrieved Leopard Dad, although he didn't know where he was wrong, still turned away dejectedly with his tail between his legs.
Ram stood in front of Erza, ready to fight a desperate battle with the male leopard.
Ram was very confused to see the male leopard walk away so calmly and without even showing any aggression towards the cubs.
"Meow?" Mommy, why are you arguing with Daddy?
"Meow!" Cub, there is a strange male leopard in my house and I have chased it away!
"……Meow?"
The pig tilted his head in confusion and looked at his daddy who was running away.
If I'm not mistaken, Mommy just followed the footprints she left behind, broke into Daddy's territory, and drove away Leopard Daddy, who was the lord beast.
Combining various clues, Yu Yiyun put himself in other people's shoes and came up with a bold hypothesis:
Poor leopard dad was staying well at home when suddenly a female leopard broke into his territory.
It was the breeding season for snow leopards, and the male leopard naturally thought that the beautiful female leopard, with whom he had raised cubs, was planning to cooperate with him for a second time, so he took the initiative to get close to her.
Just when everything was about to go smoothly, his wife suddenly changed her temper and kicked him out of the house together with his son.
Yu Yiyun raised his head and looked again in the direction where Baodie ran away.
I have something to report. I came back at a very bad time and disturbed Leopard Cat's birth of her little sister.
"meow~"
Ram obviously didn't take the "strange" snow leopard that ran away seriously, and happily rubbed and sucked on the baby.
"Meow!" Baby, I caught a lamb for you to eat!
“Meow!”
Yu Yiyun picked up the salmon again and warmly invited her mother to enjoy it.
Before Ram could reply, the greedy little cats who came following the voice showed their two furry little heads.
"Chirp?" Excuse me, can the kitten eat some fish?
Feifei smelled the delicious aroma and her eyes sparkled with greed.
Yuanyuan didn't say anything, she hid behind and licked her lips, indicating it madly.
Before Yu Yiyun could speak, Ram spoke first.
"meow!" Get out, you wild kid!
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