Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl

Chen Ying couldn't contain her excitement and quickly entered, hugging the tiger cub tightly.

"I'm sorry, I came back late, but I brought you a gift."

After speaking, Chen Ying had the keeper help unpack the items brought and assembled them in front of the tiger cub.

It was a specially made wheelchair, tailored for animals unable to walk with their hind limbs.

The wheelchair Chen Ying had customized for the tiger cub was expensive, made from the lightest and best materials, and could be adjusted in size as the tiger cub grew.

After the two people helped the cub place its hind limbs on the wheelchair, finally, the tiger cub could stand steadily on all fours like a normal little tiger.

However, since it hadn't received much front limb training, it was weak and unaccustomed to the posture, and it hesitated to take a step for a long time.

Chen Ying didn't rush it, simply watching it gently.

Beside her, the keeper who had been feeding and caring for it these past few days also watched it with sparkling eyes.

Little Brain Tiger moved its lips slightly and mustered the courage to tentatively take its first step.

Wobbling and shaky, but it indeed took that first step.

Its left front paw that first struck the ground caused it to gasp heavily twice, it then shifted its center of gravity and took a second step.

The third step, the fourth step... until it rushed into Chen Ying's arms.

"Ow woo, ow woo."

It made unconscious, soft calls, without specific meaning, like a child excited to the point of screaming.

The keeper beside her wiped away tears, put away her cellphone, and hurried out to fetch a bowl of milk and a large rabbit leg.

"You're amazing, baby; I've never seen a Little Brain Tiger more amazing than you. Eat up, fill yourself up, and soon we'll be able to run freely."

Chen Ying looked up at the slightly chubby keeper, surprised that a man in his thirties could be so emotional.

That was good, at least during this quarantine period, Little Brain Tiger would be well cared for.

After playing with the tiger cub for a while, Chen Ying, while it wasn't watching, covered her mouth and yawned.

She had rushed here with almost no rest for two days, having only slept a bit on the airplane, and now fatigue was creeping in.

While playing, Little Brain Tiger glanced back at Chen Ying, trotted a few steps to her, and nuzzled her chin.

"Are you sleepy? Go to sleep then but remember to come and play with me."

Chen Ying laughed, rubbing its head vigorously.

Having interacted with so many animals, many of them intelligent and perceptive, but when it came to intelligence, this disabled cub indeed stood on a higher ground of intellect.

The keeper, noting Chen Ying's tiredness, quickly apologized, urging her to rest assured that everything would be under control in her presence.

Chen Ying, not being pretentious, said goodbye to the tiger cub and headed to another area designated for special patients.

This area housed the frail and disabled.

The injured adolescent tiger that had come out of the special care unit had been transferred here.

When Chen Ying arrived, she saw its keeper squatting at the pen's door, looking woefully at it.

In less than half a month, the young tiger had thinned to where its bones were visible.

It had no interest in the beef provided by the keeper.

"Dr. Chen, when did you get back?"

Alerted by Chen Ying's presence, the keeper quickly stood up.

Perhaps having squatted too long, he wobbled slightly, steadying himself on the railing.

"What's going on? Why has it lost so much weight?"

It couldn't be that the breeding center was mistreating a tiger; they were not short on funds to feed one. The issue must be with the tiger itself.

"Since it came out of the care unit and started eating on its own, it barely eats anything; most of the food is force-fed."

But injections and force-feeding were not solutions; this tiger clearly had lost the will to live.

Chen Ying had rare contact with adult tigers, but she understood the nature of these fierce creatures. Hu Zi was likely struggling to accept its disabled condition.

In the wild, disability meant a harsh life, meaning no female would bear its offspring. For animals, survival and reproduction were deep-seated obsessions.

Chen Ying didn't go inside.

This tiger was different from the tiger cub; mere company was useless; otherwise, despite the keeper's company, it hadn't even given a single glance.

The state it was in could be described in human terms as "depression."

While both blind, Elder Tiger had seen the prime of life before losing sight, whereas its life seemed to be nearly over from the onset.

Rubbing her temples painfully, Chen Ying said, "I'll go back and think of a solution; keep a close watch on it."

The keeper nodded, crouched down, and resumed talking to it as if performing a solo play.

The tiger buried its head further into its forelegs.

Chen Ying narrowed her eyes slightly, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Returning to the temporary quarters assigned to her, the room was the same, with toiletries already in place.

Chen Ying hung the 'Do Not Disturb' sign, shut the door, cleaned up, and buried herself in the blankets.

After sleeping for sixteen to seventeen hours, Chen Ying woke up the next morning.

After waking up, his mind was much clearer.

He had an idea for the subsequent treatment of the subadult tiger, but he needed to check if it was allowed by policy.

Several phone calls later, his thoughts became clearer.

He took out his computer and spent half an hour drafting a request, which he sent to the email of the Tiger and Leopard Breeding Center management, then Chen Ying picked up his personal medical kit to see the subadult tiger.

It was still the same keeper as yesterday.

There was still more than half of the food left for Hu Zi.

According to the standard, a tiger needs about twenty kilograms of meat a day, most tigers eat once a day with occasionally a bit of other small snacks, not exceeding two kilograms in total.

This injured tiger's twenty-kilogram quota was split into two feedings of ten kilograms each in the morning and afternoon, yet even with the reduced amount, five or six kilograms would remain uneaten.

What was eaten was not even enough to sustain its resting energy needs.

Chen Ying watched it for a while and then turned to find Group Leader Qi.

"What did you just say, let the tiger cub share a cage with that subadult tiger?"

Although the subadult tiger looked very weak, it was not something the tiger cub could withstand.

Group Leader Qi, without thinking, flatly refused.

"The tiger cub, even though it's disabled, is still a treasure of our center, we can't risk it."

"Group Leader Qi, you have to believe that I care about the tiger cub as much as you do. Look, I tailored so many things for it all the way here; we can't just let it take a simple look and be done."

Group Leader Qi was a bit at a loss for words.

"My plan isn't to have them share a cage right away. Isn't there a vacant one next to the subadult tiger, with iron doors between the two cages that can open and close? They are unfamiliar now, so we'll keep it closed, neither of them can reach the other side."

Group Leader Qi definitely knew the layout of the animal shed better than Chen Ying.

Hearing him say that, it seemed feasible.

"But the tiger cub's quarantine isn't done yet, it's not possible now."

"Of course not now, I understand the rules. The quarantine will be over in eight days, right? During these eight days, we need to do another course of treatment for the subadult tiger. In addition, we also need to train the tiger cub to skillfully use its wheelchair and the trainer."

The tiger cub part was easy to say, as Group Leader Qi was in charge of the Young Beast Garden, he could arrange it directly.

But there were more issues on the subadult tiger's side.

After all, at the breeding center, there were more tigers than staff (keepers and veterinarians), each sick and elderly tiger was assigned a designated keeper, and when they took turns resting, other keepers would help look after them for a day.

At the Tiger park, there were dozens of tigers but fewer than ten staffs even including logistics, only fifteen people in total. They had to deal with more diverse tasks and couldn't spare hands to help.

When it was really too busy, they would release some intern positions to their cooperative schools or simply look for volunteers to help.

After finding out about the situation in the Tiger park from Group Leader Qi, Chen Ying thought it over and went directly to see the supervising leader.

The supervising leader was easy to talk to. After listening to Chen Ying's plan, he called Group Leader Qi and Group Leader Jin, who was in charge of the sick and elderly tigers in the Beast Garden, asking the three of them to decide directly if it was feasible.

The three didn't drag it out too long, mainly because Chen Ying convinced Group Leader Jin from the Beast Garden.

Moreover, even if he persisted in disagreeing, he couldn't just watch that injured tiger suffer.

It's better to treat a dead tiger as an alive one, who knows, it might just work.

With the support of two group leaders, things became much easier to handle.

Chen Ying went to play with the tiger cub for half an hour every morning and afternoon, and the rest of the time, along with other veterinarians, treated both the sick tiger and the tiger cub.

The sick tiger only required moxibustion and topical medication, but it was different for the tiger cub. It had to undergo acupuncture and steaming every three days, each session lasting forty-five minutes, which was agonizing for a cub of its age.

By the third treatment session, Chen Ying moved the treatment bed to a room across the animal shed.

This room was originally a rest area for the keepers but was cleared out to make a treatment room for the tiger cub.

When the subadult tiger saw the tiger cub for the first time, its lifeless eyes involuntarily tightened.

What the heck was this tiger cub?

Its gaze was locked on the wheelchair fixed to the tiger cub's hind limbs, its expression slightly vacant.

The tiger cub walked into the treatment room under Chen Ying's guidance.

During the acupuncture and steaming, it couldn't resist whimpering softly, and its keeper held the special treats Chen Ying made to comfort it.

Thus, the sounds coming from the opposite treatment room turned into: Chanchan... Ao wu wu, chanchan, chanchan, wu wu...

The moans and chewing noises mixed together and entered the ears of the subadult tiger, finally piquing its curiosity as if unconcerned, it lay down by the iron gate.

The intact eye could just glimpse a part of the treatment bed on the opposite side.

And on the treatment bed, an iron frame was installed, with the tiger cub strapped to it from its waist to its buttocks, multiple chilling long needles inserted.

On several of these long needles, a wire was attached, the other end connected to a square box on the table.

The tiger saw the needles occasionally twitch, and each time the needles twitched, that strange little tiger cub made a howling sound.

Had the two-legged beast invented some new way to torment tigers?

It had been a bit unruly lately, would it also end up being tortured to cries of agony?

The tiger was afraid, its heart trembling with fear!