Forest Ranger, starting from Picking Up a Lynx Girl-Chapter 513 - 468: 3 Otters Battle a Lone Crocodile_2

Taking advantage of the situation, Chen Ying checked the panda. Fortunately, Mama Panda was careful this time and didn’t hurt it.

"Where do you plan to let it stay? By the way, I just got word that there might be dangerous creatures in the water."

Knowing that the pandas had never seen alligators, Chen Ying briefly described it and didn’t bring it up again.

You’ll know when you see them. After all, while alligators are formidable, the power of a giant panda’s swipe shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Compared to the potential danger of a giant panda encountering an alligator, Chen Ying was more worried about the otters that had already settled in the waters of the Old Northern Gully.

After all, they both make a living in the water. Compared to otters, alligators are like giant pandas to red pandas.

On the third day after the notice was issued, four of the seven escaped alligators had been captured, including two young ones. The price was two injured patrol team members.

Among the remaining three alligators, the whereabouts of one were tracked, it went downstream and was discovered by a fisherman. At that time, the fisherman was so scared he nearly fell into the pond, left his shoes behind, and scrambled away before calling the police.

However, that pond was quite large and deep, so for safety’s sake, they had to drain the water before capturing the alligator.

The two remaining alligators were the most dangerous of all, the wide-snouted caimans, which were a pair of adult caimans the owner had bought for breeding.

The adult wide-snouted caiman is three meters long with an astonishing bite force. The female is nearly two meters long and equally fierce.

Chen Ying had been feeling anxious. Upon learning that the two caimans were missing, he hesitated for a long time and decided to check the situation at the Old Northern Gully.

The two monitors responsible for taking care of Elder Tiger saw him coming and knew he was worried about Elder Tiger, so they quickly reassured him.

Elder Tiger had been living comfortably lately, getting rounder and more reluctant to move around.

His biggest activity every day was going down to the riverside to drink water. Even his food was specially fed by the two monitors, and occasionally Leopard Sister, Brother Leopard, and Jinya or Little Jin would take turns bringing him prey.

Elder Tiger’s teeth were becoming more ineffective, and the food brought needed to be processed, cut into suitable strips for him to swallow.

"Brother Ying, we’ve estimated that Elder Tiger might not have much time left, he might not make it through this winter."

Seeing the records and predictions made by the monitors, Chen Ying felt suffocated.

But these things would be experienced sooner or later. After all, compared to animals, human lifespan is much longer.

When he arrived, Elder Tiger was sleeping on the rocks above his cave, basking in the warm sun.

Not wanting to disturb Elder Tiger, Chen Ying discussed the alligator situation with the two monitors, who said they had already received the news. These days, whenever Elder Tiger went down to drink water, they accompanied him.

"So far, it seems they haven’t come this way. The otter family is active every day, and they haven’t seen any sign of the alligators."

This river in the Old Northern Gully does flow through Baisha Town, but it actually merges into another river first before winding past Baisha Town.

This was why the people at the Emergency Response Station weren’t particularly alarmed.

As he observed the riverbank for a while, the otters were still as spirited and feisty as ever, initiating four or five disputes in just half an hour.

Of course, these disputes were more like playful scuffles than anything serious.

The usual triggers were either big fish or small fish, or who picked up the prettier branch.

Seeing the lively little creatures, Chen Ying shot a few short videos and sent them to the group at the Protection Station.

The inspection of flora and fauna was part of their job, too. The videos Chen Ying shared could be used in work reports, and the especially interesting ones could be sent to the official account of the County Culture and Tourism Bureau, contributing a bit to the cultural and tourism promotion of his hometown.

Another day passed, and the alligator hadn’t been found. This time, all Protection Stations were ordered to suspend all vacations and regroup to search for the alligator.

Although the Emergency Response Station wasn’t amongst those on the list, they couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Leaving two assistant keepers with Professor Bai to care for the panda family, Chen Ying took Xiao Shen and formed a team with two other Panda Men to patrol downstream of the Old Northern Gully.

The downstream of the Old Northern Gully was treacherous with deep waters, not a favored environment for alligators, but no one knew if these two would hide there.

The section of the river they were on had sheer cliffs on both sides, with no path down. Because they couldn’t get down into the gully, the long-idle drone came in handy once again.

Moving slowly along the river, Chen Ying carefully observed the water and both banks.

"I heard the town requested assistance from higher authorities. They plan to use sonar equipment to locate these two alligators." The two Panda Men were well-informed, "I have a high school classmate working at the county office, and he said the county leaders have already banged on the table, demanding the alligators be found within a deadline."

Whether or not there was a deadline didn’t concern them, as the breeding farm owner would ultimately bear the responsibility, and whoever helped purchase the alligators might also be held accountable. ƒreewebɳovel.com

As the four of them walked and chatted, nearing the spot where this stretch of the river converged with another, something unexpected occurred.

"Brother Ying, look quickly, there’s an alligator below!"

Because it was near the confluence of two rivers, the river here was slightly broader.

On the right-hand side of the river was a swampy area over ten meters long and less than two meters wide. It was formed by the sediment deposited by the river.

This could strictly be considered riparian wetland, with abundant vegetation.

And because the cliffs remained, there was no way to climb down to investigate.

If not for this alligator showing itself, they wouldn’t have been able to see where it was hidden at all.

Surprisingly, the one forcing the alligator to reveal itself was a trio of otters.

Two otters took turns provoking the alligator from front to back, while the third attacked in a mobile fashion, targeting the alligator’s belly.

Watching for a few minutes, the three otters seemed to be overwhelming the alligator, and the attacked alligator found no chance to escape.

"Brother Ying, the police have already been notified, they said they’d be here right away."

Xiao Shen had called the police as soon as he saw the alligator, and had also sent a location in the Protection Station group.

"Weren’t there supposed to be two of them? Why have we seen only one?"

Chen Ying piloted the drone carefully along the river twice, but still couldn’t find any trace of the other alligator.

"Could it be that the two alligators had split up and fled?"

"It’s possible. The male alligator might be active in another river, but it shouldn’t be too far from this female alligator."

While waiting, they witnessed the classic scene of the three otters taking down the lone alligator. All three filmed the river action on their phones, adding unreliable commentary and dubbing.

Chen Ying didn’t join in the filming. After recording a close-up shot with the drone, he began searching the surrounding waters.

Alligators lack vocal cords, so the male would have to contract muscles to create low-frequency vibrations to attract the female. They sometimes make frog-like croaks as well, so male and female alligators usually don’t stray too far apart.

But the fact that this female alligator received no help from the male until its death might indicate they were quite far apart?

Chen Ying turned his gaze across the hill, which didn’t belong to the jurisdiction of Jiamu Gully.

Chen Ying sent a video to the "Safety and Emergency Response Group" and then planned to communicate with the otter family.

The otters in this section of the river should belong to the same family, and they had their own ways of communicating and conveying various information.

Given the three otters were able to cooperate to hunt the female alligator, was it possible they had already hunted the male?

Though the three otters killed the female alligator, they were not fond of alligator meat.

After devouring the tenderest parts, the otters quickly left.

"Can we head down now? Even if the alligator is dead, we need to retrieve the remains. Additionally, can you send us the otter vs. alligator video for our archives?"

With some editing, it could be included in safety promotional materials.

Every year, the safety talks for the town’s students were the same old stories, but this time they could provide an unusual surprise.

After retrieving the alligator remains, the group carried their tools and the carcass down the mountain. Just as they reached the foot, about to get into their vehicles, they received an alarming call from another patrol team.

"What do you mean, someone saw an alligator playing in the Wild River Gully? Alright, understood, we’ll head over right away."

"What? And two leopards too?"

The person answering the call instinctively looked up at Chen Ying.

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