Before leaving, he needed to observe how the seals interacted in their natural environment.
The situation was quite good; few of these young seals had died. Hai Bo, as the big brother of the group, responsibly led the younger ones in practicing fishing.
These two chubby little ones, despite their plump bodies, were very agile, darting toward their chosen target in the shallow sea, with a flick of the head, a delicious fish in their mouth.
In contrast, the slender, streamlined younger sister appeared much clumsier; usually, when she arrived, the fish had already gone, wagging her tail without leaving a tear.
At the end of the three-day observation period, although the younger sister was clumsy in hunting, fortunately, she had three reliable (or not) brothers to help, plus the feeding from two foster mothers, and she seemed healthier and more lively than when living in the pool.
The observation videos were packaged and sent to the conservation association, along with information that he would leave in two more days, hoping they would occasionally send people over to check on things.
"The number of juvenile seals in the bay this year has increased by nearly one-fifth compared to last year. While an increase in seals is a good thing, the corresponding food scarcity issue urgently needs to be addressed. Additionally, the village chief mentioned that he had communicated with other villages, and it seems that top predators of the Arctic Circle might be roaming nearby; you may want to look into the reasons."
Slow and sustained growth in numbers is the positive development that increased regional food resources can bring, but the seal numbers have grown abnormally over just two years, causing the bay's food supply to fall behind the predators' development; in the long run, this will surely lead to a collapse of the local ecological chain.
Fortunately, the seals also understand the principle of not exhausting natural resources; previously, there was only one place in the bay with ringed seals, but now there are sightings near the bays of two neighboring towns to the north.
The natural conservation association had long discovered this anomaly. Surely, no one in their right mind would link this anomaly to Chen Ying. Isn't this the result of their conservation efforts? How could the credit be given to someone else?
The night before departure, Hai Bo took the three little ones out for a night of revelry and did not return home.
The two seal foster mothers, lately, didn't have to worry about the kids; they ate, drank, and basked in the sun every day, living blissfully, with their bodies visibly rounding out even more.
Early in the morning, after packing his belongings and covering the furniture inside with dust covers, Chen Ying grabbed a small emergency kit and knocked on the neighbor's door.
"Here are the updated emergency medical supplies. I've sent the warehouse and temporary rescue room's passwords via text to your phone. Also, I've signed a daily delivery agreement with Uncle Isaac, and I've prepaid one month. He'll deliver fish daily, about fifty kilograms, which I'll need you to help distribute to two fixed feeding points; any leftover can supplement Hai Bo's snack stash."
"Why the feeding?" The old gentleman was a bit puzzled, "They can catch fresh sea fish themselves."
"The weather's getting colder, and this year's seal pups are more than last year's, while the number of ocean fish is decreasing. I'm worried that some weaker seals might not get enough to eat. This food won't attract strong adult seals, but for young seals, it can be life-saving."
The old gentleman patted his forehead, solemnly assuring Chen Ying that he would definitely take care of this task.
He then went to the coast to check around but didn't see any familiar plump seal bodies; after standing akimbo for a while, Chen Ying turned to prepare to leave.
Just as the car's engine started, a call came from the village chief.
"Chen, have you left yet?"
Hearing the village chief's slightly urgent voice, Chen Ying quickly stopped the car, saying he was just about to depart.
"Thank heavens you're still there, that's great. Chen, come quick, we need your help here."
The village chief gave an address, located at the northern end of the river's estuary, which was the southernmost point of their village, across the river was a different province's village.
Chen Ying drove over, rushed to the beach, and saw a group of people gathered together; there were at least dozens of seals lying on the beach in front of them.
"What's going on?" At this time point, seals usually don't sleep on the beach, especially not in such numbers and crowded together; it seemed off.
"We don't know; these seals look exhausted and frightened, and some are injured. We've already treated some of the lighter injuries, but for the rest, we dare not act."
The villagers had lived by the bay for generations, handling minor injuries casually was no problem, but when it involved fatal injuries, especially of protected animals, a professional veterinarian must address it; otherwise, any attempt would be seen as threatening the life of a protected animal and lead to repercussions.
After roughly understanding the situation, Chen Ying directly dialed the protection center's number, professionally explaining the current situation and proposing his needs.
His miniature emergency station only had a small reserve of common medical supplies, yet so many severely injured seals needed a large amount of emergency materials. More importantly, manpower issues must be resolved.
Fortunately, there was a professional veterinarian research institute located not far in the university town. After his emergency call, the graduate students quickly responded, coordinating swiftly with the protection organization; within two hours, the first batch of rescue personnel arrived at the site via helicopter, bringing with them urgently needed rescue supplies.
Processing the seals' injuries alone took nearly twenty hours, during which other injured marine animals were frequently discovered and reported; most recently, two bottlenose dolphins were brought to Chen Ying's location.