Super Zoo

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The rewilding work involves numerous technical issues and is subject to many conditions; every release, even with thorough preparation, presents a significant challenge for zoos and research institutions. For the animals being released, it's even a gamble with their lives. Hence, wildlife organizations, both domestic and international, are extremely cautious when it comes to rewilding.

Rewilding is infrequent and difficult. There is also a very inconvenient truth that's hard to express: while in the zoo, animals are assets capable of generating economic income, but once released, they become wildlife.

'Protecting animals, protecting the environment'—it's easy for everyone to say these things, but when you actually ask a zoo to let go of the animals they've spent considerable effort and money on, it hurts like cutting your own flesh!

Suming's goal wasn't simply to release one or two, or even just a handful of animals; he planned to release all that could be released.

If anyone else had said this, they would have been cursed by everyone in the zoo. After decades, Yangchuan City Zoo had finally accumulated some assets, and now, with just one sentence, he wanted to release more than one-third of them. This was like selling off ancestral lands without batting an eye—a typical prodigal act.

In fact, after hearing this news, many in the industry had already started talking behind Suming's back.

Fortunately, even though the zoo's ownership was not yet in Suming's hands, when it came to management, he had the final say. Following his orders, Mrs. Tong, although not understanding, still earnestly started tallying up the animals that could potentially be rewilded.

As the tallying assignment was distributed, the clerks responsible for the task were startled and baffled, even speculating whether Mrs. Tong had misunderstood Mr. Su's instructions.

"Mrs. Tong, even if we focus all our work on rewilding now, with so many animals, it will take at least five or six years to complete the process."

"We're short-staffed, and I learned in school that animal rewilding requires the involvement of experts. It goes through processes like assessment, the design of rewilding plans, rehearsals, and training. I've never heard of anyone just recklessly releasing animals into the wild." This young clerk actually had more to say; Suming's 'off-the-cuff' actions, which seemed like releasing animals on a whim, were typically cited as negative examples in textbooks. Enjoy new adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

A clerk whispered a guess: "Could it be that our director has another plan in mind? Everyone knows Mr. Su is clever. Maybe he's come up with an idea that seems nonsensical at first but ends up bringing unexpected success."

"That's pure conjecture!" another clerk shook their head, "The director's previous methods were all for the benefit of the zoo. Even if the rewilding succeeds, and the animals nurtured by the zoo for so many years return to nature, the zoo will suffer a great loss! At most, we'll get some praise from the higher-ups..."

"What are you saying? Isn't receiving praise from the higher-ups a benefit? Our zoo is after all a public service entity. With a good reputation, we'll naturally attract benefits from all sides!" retorted the previous clerk, not convinced.

"It depends on how significant the honor is. Our director is already a national representative. Does he care about such minor honors? It's a total loss."

The office is a classic place for gossip, especially in a relatively leisurely place like a zoo. Office gossip about every household's business has almost become part of the office culture, and people speak without reservations. Suming was known for his good temper, and the young clerks were quite bold in discussing their leaders behind their backs.

A newly graduated young lady bravely speculated, "Mrs. Tong, releasing animals surely wouldn't benefit the zoo at all. Do you think the director might have other ideas?" As she spoke, she made a suggestive 'you know what I mean' expression and winked.

The implication was that Suming might be seeking personal gains through rewilding.

Ironically, this young lady had indeed guessed the general direction correctly, but none had really hit the nail on the head.

"Could the director be planning to secretly sell the animals, under the pretense of releasing them? Released one minute and captured the next?" someone exclaimed in astonishment.

"That's nothing. It's just natural turnover. With our zoo's growing animal population, phasing out some common animals for rarer, more precious ones is a good thing," someone said.

"Enough of that, the more you talk, the less sense it makes. You all talk as though you don't filter what you say! Just because you see Mr. Su is good-natured, you dare to trash the leadership behind his back!" Mrs. Tong couldn't stand it anymore and glared at them, "I'm telling you, where these words are said, there they stay. Once you leave this office, don't blabber about it."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Tong, we understand such matters," they reassured her.

"Exactly, exactly."

"If you ask me, it's only right for the director to make some profit. Just look, Mrs. Tong, at least half of the people at our zoo make over ten thousand a month, right? Even those of us who sit in the office and enjoy the air conditioning make seventy or eighty thousand a year, and our bonuses keep going up. Only the director himself is still drawing a fixed salary," someone even started feeling sorry for Suming.

Mrs. Tong had a gossip-loving nature herself and snorted, "The director has his own businesses and earns much more in a year than the zoo does. You all are so shortsighted, do you really think the director would care about the little money from selling off animals?"

The clerks still wanted to chatter, but Mrs. Tong waved them off: "All right, enough talk. Go about your work. Even if the office is a relaxing place, we can't just chat all day long. Get on with tallying up the animals that can be rewilded."

The tallying process took three whole days, but eventually, a rough result was produced.

According to Suming's criteria, the animals eligible for rewilding had to meet two major conditions. First, they had to have surviving wild populations to join—like with the finless porpoises, for which there were no wild populations; releasing them would only result in their lonely death, and the species would become extinct, so they must be artificially protected until propagation is possible. Second, their temperaments had to be relatively docile, or they should not be a significant threat to humans.

After the tally, there were nearly a thousand animals meeting these two conditions, involving over 40 species across various orders.

Most of them were birds, accounting for about half. The rest were common zoo animals, such as various rabbits, several species of deer, foxes of all sizes, alpacas, including the macaques of Monkey Mountain and their neighbors, the gibbons.

There were also some animals with 'wild night out' experiences with Suming that received special approval to join the rewilding list. Haidong Qing was prominently among them.

"Damn, damn... I want to go out too!"

"Damn, damn, let me go!"

The two Diamond Parrots were not having it!

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