I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 698 - 697 Reward Sea Lion!

About the zoo's expansion, Mayor Bai said that a meeting would be held to discuss the matter later.

Although he didn't agree directly, it seemed almost certain!

He encouraged me, asking me to press on and to continue improving the zoo.

"Ok, I will definitely live up to the leadership's expectations!"

After finishing the call with Mayor Bai, the system prompt sounded.

"Ding! The stranded melon-headed whales were rescued in time, and most of them were lucky to survive."

"Rescue of the melon-headed whales (5/7), complete with an 'excellent' rating!"

Fang Ye couldn't help but show a look of anticipation and rubbed his hands together!

"Reward received: South African fur seal*8!"

The South African fur seals, also known as South African seals, are 1.8-2.7 meters long and weigh 120-400 kg. They are the largest species of sea lion!

When sea lions are mentioned, many people might think of sea lions balancing a ball, spinning around, and clapping their "flippers."

They are also regulars in marine animal circus performances. Coming to Linhai Zoo, of course, we won't make sea lions do such things.

After the arrival of the South African fur seals, they could be placed next to the penguin pavilion to form a marine theme along with the African penguins.

Now, marine pollution is also a very serious problem. Previously, scientists wanted to investigate how much plastic flows into the ocean each year, but it wasn't easy to compile accurate statistics.

After assembling a large team of scientists from various fields and conducting research, they came up with an astonishing figure: 8 million tons of plastic waste flow into the ocean each year! That's each year, not including other types of marine debris.

What's this figure like? It's as if 1,000 tons of plastic are being dumped into the ocean every hour, equivalent to dumping a truckload of plastic every minute.

The statistics also show that plastic consumption is continuously rising. By 2050, this figure is expected to double, and by weight, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

This statistic from a few years ago is already outdated. The latest report indicates that without intervention, the amount of plastic will triple within the next ten years.

This plastic in the oceans causes many problems; every year, over 1 million marine animals die because of plastics.

For example, whale strandings may occur because the animals have become weak due to ingesting plastic. Once, a whale that stranded on the coast of Thailand had 80 plastic bags found in its stomach. Turtles also often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, which are their favorite food. Upon seeing a plastic bag, they wouldn't hesitate to eat it, and if they eat too many, they can't digest or expel them and eventually die.

At the marine-themed exhibit area, we could inform visitors about these issues, and in the future, we could even expand to create a marine pavilion.

...

The news of the remaining two melon-headed whales being successfully released was also reported.

Netizens felt a bit of regret, not expecting the release to happen so quickly, in just a few days!

They were still voting and discussing what to name them, with "Guagua," "Raw Melon Egg," and "Melon Peel" as popular choices.

"They look so beautiful leaping against the sunset!"

"My Guagua, I can't bear to part with you!"

"It's good that they've been released. No need to worry anymore. I hope you all have a safe journey and smooth sailing!"

"Hard work, staff members!"

"Linhai Zoo is really nice, MD, I even saw a news piece in the last couple of days about that Hengshui Zoo, making monkeys smoke. How can there be such a big gap between zoos?"

"Good grief, there's actually this kind of crazy stuff happening!?"

"Stop talking about it, I'm from Hengshui. I never expected my hometown to get famous again in such a way, it's really embarrassing."

"What's even more dumbfounding is, looking at the comments under this news article, there are many people who think letting monkeys smoke is no big deal, making a mountain out of a molehill. Look at this comment, 'Since when did showing no respect for animals become a reason for condemnation?'"

"Eh, we've stepped into a new century, and yet there are still quite a few zoos with outdated concepts, stuck in the era of circus performances... We're really short on excellent zoos that educate people with the right knowledge, otherwise, we wouldn't have such bizarre opinions circulating."

"They just use it as a gimmick to make money! Remember that hotel that was opened within a zoo? A red panda wandered into one of the hotel rooms. It got so frightened that it raised its hands in the air, desperately searching for a place to hide, and netizens were all 'oh, how cute, how adorable...'"

"I saw that video too! The top comment had 17,000 likes, and it was about pointing out the problem, saying 'A hotel in Scandinavia had a similar incident, and the harmonious atmosphere of the comments there brought tears to my eyes. In contrast, look at our comment section today, full of exaggeration, and everything is wrong because the red panda wasn't born in Scandinavia.'"

"That's why the best protection we ordinary folks can offer animals isn't about doing things like marine mammal rescue or field surveys like the staff, but if we can just understand some basic facts and provide the right educational responses to this kind of news, that would already be great."

...

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com.

As for importing the koalas, Fang Ye got in touch with a zoo in Australia.

However, when it comes to national treasures like koalas, the zoo couldn't make that decision on its own.

They provided him with the contact details of the relevant agency, who didn't outright reject them upon hearing that they were members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums!

It looked like they might have a chance.

Next, they needed to fill out various application materials and undergo qualification inspections. Dealing with national treasures was troublesome.

Compared to importing giant pandas, Fang Ye was much more relaxed about the koala situation.

Of course, he'd be happy if they succeeded in importing them, but he wouldn't be too disappointed if they didn't.

Although he liked koalas, he felt a deeper affection for the giant pandas that were already there.

When he talked to Lan Li about it, she was overjoyed since she loved cute and fuzzy animals the most.

Holding her cheeks, she dreamily said, "Koalas are super cute! It's a pity that only one zoo in the country has them, so few. I never had the chance to see them with my own eyes."

Fang Ye laughed and said, "Once we import the koalas, you can see them every day, as much as you want!"

"Didn't you say that importing koalas would be very difficult?"

"If we can't bring them in, we'll just take a trip to Australia and see their amazing wildlife there."

"Hehe, I still hope our zoo will have them!"

Lan Li suddenly got excited again, "Oh right, should we consider getting a fennec fox? Fennec foxes are so cute too!"

Fennec foxes are known for their unusually large ears and are the smallest canids in the world.

Previously, visitors had expressed interest in the zoo importing fennec foxes!

Fang Ye pondered that the Giant Beast Area with hippos, giraffes, and southern white rhinoceroses—all African animals—would be perfect for an African-themed exhibit including animals like fennec foxes, meerkats, and common warthogs.

But there was no space left behind the Giant Beast Area, so he hadn't considered importing them for the time being.

Now that the zoo's expansion application had been approved, they could proceed with a new round of construction and import more animals.