The land belonged to the nation, and he had no say in it.
However, they hadn't disturbed him either; the distance between the two houses was about sixty or seventy meters, which was sufficient to provide a quiet resting environment for the animals.
After Er Niu left with her cubs, the animal shed went through another round of refurbishment and now housed two Tibetan Wild Donkey foals and one yak calf whose mother had died.
"The yak mother was already sick, and after giving birth she never fully recovered. When my classmates and I went to observe the Wild Yak Herd, we found the mother yak kneeling on the grass, struggling and failing to stand up."
"The little yak wanted to help its mother stand but couldn't. There were two other yaks trying to help as well, but they couldn't manage it either. Only after the two large yaks left did my classmates and I dare to approach and check the situation."
On the very night they managed to bring both the mother yak and her calf back, the mother passed away. The calf knelt beside her mother and called out all night, and by the next day, it too had collapsed weakly to the ground.
Ci Ren brought milk from his own cows to feed the calf and looked after it tirelessly for seven or eight days before the youngster was finally out of danger.
"Right now it's those classmates who are feeding them; my task is still to monitor Er Niu's situation."
The daily work records were very thorough, and by the time Chen Ying finished going through them, it was already night.
Dao Meihua went with Sun Qihai to check on Er Niu and on the way encountered Jinya, who had been hunting.
Little Jin was there too, but looked somewhat disheveled.
Tree-dwelling animals still couldn't fully resist the howling cold winds of the uninhabited area. Fortunately, Jinya cared dearly for Little Jin, and in the cave near Er Niu, she gave up her own warm nest for Little Jin and actively hunted to feed her, using her thick fur to keep her warm.
The purpose of Dao Meihua's visit was to build a place for Little Jin and Jinya to shelter from the cold.
The anti-freeze pet villa, pre-prepared and only needing to be assembled according to instructions, was ready.
After finding a suitable spot sheltered from the wind, Dao Meihua and Sun Qihai worked together to construct the pet villa, and then disguised it with a waterproof cloth and dry grass.
When completed, it looked just like a natural cave, but inside there was a layer of cold protection, as well as warm animal skin mats.
Er Niu was curious, but restrained the cubs from coming out to play with equal curiosity. She was very wary of Dao Meihua and even made threatening noises when she approached.
Jinya wasn't especially familiar with her but knew she was with the Two-legged beast from his own household and had come to help build the winter shelter; she wasn't close but didn't drive her away either. Only Little Jin, from being together the past few days, was relatively familiar with her scent and even came out to rub against Dao Meihua in gratitude after inspecting the newly completed small villa.
This custom-made small villa was inspired by the burrow-style animal dens, artificially constructed to provide animals with shelters to overwinter in areas where conditions are poor.
The only issue was that it was only suitable for small to medium-sized animals; for larger ones like Snow Leopards, it wasn't quite fitting.
However, it could still be useful for giving birth.
Er Niu wouldn't let the cubs enter but went inside herself to check it out and found it wasn't as comfortable as a rocky cave; the space was too small, she couldn't even turn around twice, and with the addition of the cubs, it would be crammed.
Having seen Er Niu, Dao Meihua felt quite satisfied. She had also caught a glimpse of Er Niu's cubs; the overly bold Big Zai even poked its head out to gaze at them for a dozen seconds, while Second cub and the third daughter only showed their young, delicate tails.
"Let's go, we should head back," Dao Meihua said, pulling Sun Qihai away from the place and asking about the current situation at the rest station along the way.
"After the last inspection by the leadership, the bureau allocated some funds, and we renovated the old houses at the station, added two operating rooms, and equipped them with devices and instruments. Additionally, we expanded the enclosure from two to four, preserving the original two and building two more, one large and one small, specifically to rescue and shelter animals like the Tibetan Wild Donkey and the Tibetan antelope."
"They divided the prefabricated houses into four areas; one-third on the left is for accommodation, with rooms set up as four-person dormitories with bunk beds and desks below, a slightly larger public reading and relaxation room. Two-thirds of that space is for office area and avian isolation. The row in the back with the netting is for bird sheltering."
"The right side is built by the Animal Husbandry Bureau, with similar accommodation for one-third, slightly better conditions, two people per room, but they lack separate offices and have combined living and office areas. The other houses are their labs or something; I'm not too familiar with the details. There's also a row of animal enclosures behind, probably established for breeding purposes."
Apart from that, the power supply facilities were rather simple, but currently seem to be just enough to stably meet their daily needs.
The place was no longer called a rest station and has been officially named "River Source Emergency Station" and "River Source Biological Research Base."
"I heard they originally planned to call it an animal research base, but apparently, there were objections. I've heard through the grapevine that the Plant Research Institute is protesting, saying they want to join as well."
Sun Qihai clicked his tongue, "The vegetation here isn't particularly abundant; why are they all crowding into this place?"
Dao Meihua glanced at him sideways, what's wrong, looking down on plant research?
"I heard that Director Yin Li of the River Source Protection Station comes from a botanical background," Dao Meihua said flatly. Sun Qihai's pupils constricted.
Holy cow, he hadn't researched Yin Li's background at all. With the other being in wildlife conservation, especially on the Highland, he always thought Director Yin and Dr. Chen were classmates in the same field.