Chapter 5 Current Status of the Zoo

When Fang Ye wanted to leave, Jiaojiao still imperiously blocked the iron gate with her body, not allowing him to go!

Her eyes were full of pure longing, a desire for him to stay and play a little longer!

Fang Ye couldn't help but laugh and cry, pushing her huge head several times with both hands before he finally overcame her enthusiastic persistence.

"Roar!"

Fang Ye turned around, smiling and waving his hand.

"Okay, okay! Next time I will definitely spend more time with you!"

Stepping out of the cage, Fang Ye was still basking in the excitement!

Petting a big cat was indeed thrilling!

For him, a big cat enthusiast, the feeling was just like eating the mythical ginseng fruit, feeling refreshed in every pore, with a slight spring in his step as he walked.

Although it was a bit nervous and thrilling at the beginning of the interaction.

Not to mention, the reward for perfectly completing the task was a precious and rare white Bengal tiger cub.

Fang Ye thought about the reward and immediately used his mind to query the system.

"System, how do I claim this white Bengal tiger cub? If a rare White Tiger suddenly appears in the zoo, won't people be suspicious?"

"It will be delivered in the form of express delivery. Please rest assured, the system will provide a legitimate origin for the animal that can be traced in the real world. For example, this White Tiger cub is a donation from a zoo abroad, and no one will find it suspicious upon investigating."

Alright, as long as the system covers any loopholes, there's no need to worry about the animal's origin.

"When will it arrive?"

"In three days."

Fang Ye just noticed that there was a countdown "71:55:40" on the cub reward icon, and in the blink of an eye, 40 became 39, with a line of small print below stating: In transit.

Great!

Lan Li had been standing at the door, and when Fang Ye was inside the cage, she had been so anxious and worried, especially when Jiaojiao roared, which frightened her to the point where she couldn't even remember how to scream.

She had thought the director was about to become tiger food, but the situation turned around so quickly, they became close in an instant.

Isn't the director afraid? Why does he dare to cuddle with Jiaojiao? And why does Jiaojiao seem to like him so much?

Lan Li had been holding back a bellyful of questions, but seeing Fang Ye's face full of blissful contentment, she didn't know what to say anymore.

After a long pause, she finally blurted out, "Director, you, you're too awesome!"

In her tone, there was a mix of disbelief, admiration, and reverence!

Fang Ye's mouth twitched, "As long as you know, there's no need to say it out loud, be low-key, low-key."

Lan Li turned her head to one side, unable to bear looking directly at him.

Director, I thought you had changed, but you're still the same, aren't you? Bumped your head silly, didn't you?

…

After feeding the tiger, the day's tasks were finished.

Dormitory.

Fang Ye, trying to burn off the surplus excitement, grunted and groaned as he exercised with dumbbells. Once he was covered in sweat and too tired to move, he sat in the chair, poured himself a glass of plain boiled water, and gulped it down, feeling truly calm at last.

Although he was the zoo director, his dormitory was quite austere, just a bit more spacious.

In a corner of the room, there were a few weightlifting equipment, a hard bed with a cool mat, a table with a laptop on it, and a bookshelf.

Linhai Zoo was a small zoo after all, how luxurious could the facilities be.

The bookshelf above was packed full of books related to animals.

Fang Ye closed his eyes and recalled the original owner's memories in his mind, then pulled out a diary from the second drawer on the right side of the desk.

The contents of the diary weren't personal but carefully recorded his observations of animals, including eating habits, emotions, and activities.

"July 2nd, sunny

At 12 PM, I went to check the tiger cage and found Jiaojiao listless and lying in the shade. I guessed it was due to the hot weather. When I washed down the cage with water, she actively came forward to bathe, looking much more comfortable... Today she ate 7 pounds of food, 2 pounds less than yesterday, showing a bit of appetite loss. However, her roaring was still full of vigor..."

In Blue Planet, because of less professional animal management, such detailed animal keeper diaries were only done by a few large zoos.

The original owner was already quite advanced in this aspect!

Fang Ye couldn't help but admire him.

However, to him, a semi-expert in zoo management, the diary still had many rough edges.

"A qualified animal keeper's diary should include not only basic information such as animal names and ID numbers, records of animal behavior, dates, and current weather conditions, but also data on weight and size, changes in conditions, gender determination, breeding and contraception measures, feed supply, the condition of animal excrement, exhibit facilities, equipment renovation, and records of special events..."

An animal keeper diary is very important!

For example, if a group of macaques suddenly became collectively sullen and low in spirits, without an animal keeper diary, you'd only be guessing the reason.

If there had been detailed records beforehand, you could simply check the recent changes and know that, oh, it was a change in their food mix or a shift in feeding times that upset them, or maybe a facility broke, or a companion died...

The reverse is also true!

"Writing an animal diary is a basic task, as well as the simplest and most feasible change. Every animal keeper should develop the habit. The process of writing a diary is a process of learning and improvement..." Fang Ye stroked his chin, mulling over ideas, "Handwriting seems a bit outdated. Who could we find to develop a zoo management system? This isn't urgent, for the current scale of Linhai Zoo, handwritten logs should suffice for now."

As he flipped through the diary, the outline of Linhai Zoo began to sharpen in his mind.

Located in the suburbs, covering an area of thirty thousand square meters!

That's roughly the size of a school for about two thousand students.

Originally, there were dozens of species of animals, but due to poor management, most of them had already been sold to other zoos before Fang Ye took over.

Many enclosures are now in a state of disuse.

The animals left included tigers, gray wolves, red foxes, alpacas, macaques, and blue peafowl.

Barely enough to cobble together the semblance of a zoo.

Most visitors came to see the Amur tiger Jiaojiao and the macaques; the zoo's reputation hinged on them.

On weekends and holidays, the zoo could see several hundred visitors; on the least busy workday, there were only 9.

Entrance fee: 10 yuan—getting here by bus from the city takes an hour, just to see these pitiful few big and small cats. Even giving money, visitors would think twice about whether it's worth coming!

The average monthly income from ticket sales couldn't even cover the cost of feed.

If not for the subsidies from the city government, Linhai Zoo would have closed down long ago.

The current state of the zoo was like that of a declining, decrepit old man, very desolate.

A complete overhaul was needed!

Fang Ye furrowed his brows and pondered for a long while.

"Ay, if only it were like in the game where I could remodel the zoo however I liked!"

In the game, the zoo he built had a top-notch, beautiful environment, and he had even won awards in theme zoo competitions.

As a high-level player with exacting aesthetic standards, just thinking about Linhai Zoo's cramped cages, the dull gray concrete floors, Fang Ye felt extremely uncomfortable, as if he himself was locked in there.

Right, I wonder if the system has any functionality in this area?