I raise furry animals and fly them to my motherland.

Chapter 156 Major Health Risks
"Once we pinpoint the source of the toxins in the baby vulture's body, we can treat it effectively!"

Professor Fu adjusted his glasses: "Then we need to determine the source of pollution from the environment where Vulture Spring once lived."

“I’ll go ask the vultures where they’ve been in the desert and see if they’ve been exposed to heavy metals or fertilizer pollution.”

Concerned about the condition of their young, the vultures have collectively flown to the rescue center headquarters to keep a close watch on the baby vultures.

Worried about disturbing the staff at the rescue station, they found a temporary shelter nearby, and when they wanted to see the baby vultures, they would only circle a few times in the sky.

These fierce-looking fellows were actually quite considerate. They knew it wasn't easy for Xu Ying to treat the little vulture, so even though they were worried about its condition, they didn't call out to Xu Ying. Instead, they waited for Station Chief Xu to blow the whistle for communication.

Therefore, when Xu Ying blew the specially made whistle, the vultures soon followed.

[Station Manager Xu, thank you for your hard work!]
How is my child doing?
One of the vulture's three eggs had died, and she looked dejected, her feathers became rough, and her head became even balder.

"The baby vulture that was born is still receiving treatment, and the other egg is incubated in an incubator."

Incubators can simulate natural incubation conditions. When birds abandon their eggs or are injured and lack incubation conditions, artificial incubation is an important means of saving chicks.

Xu Ying said seriously, "That's right, we suspect the little vulture has been poisoned."

Poisoning?
The vultures clearly hadn't expected this outcome:
How could someone poison an egg?

[The vulture's sister-in-law is well protected, and no outsiders have approached the hatching nest, has she?]

"This toxin is naturally present in your bodies, but in very small amounts, so it cannot be detected during blood tests."

Xu Ying explained to the vultures why the baby vultures looked like this right after hatching: "These toxins may have accumulated in the egg during the egg-laying process, which is why the baby vultures you hatched were on the verge of death as soon as they were born."

After Xu Ying's patient explanation, the vultures understood.

Let the vultures recount their abandonment and migration to a new place. They might not remember everything, so Xu Ying thought for a moment and asked the key questions: "After you were abandoned in the desert, did you live in oases where people were relatively concentrated, or in places with frequent human activity such as metal mines, smelters, or oil fields?"

The vultures immediately began to seriously recall whether they had ever lived in the places Xu Ying had mentioned.

[We lived near a human oasis for a while; there was plenty of food there, and you could often find rotting flesh in the garbage dumps.]
Vultures are birds that often scavenge for food. In fact, they live off garbage. Thinking about it that way, their lives are quite miserable.

[But after the people of that oasis discovered our presence, they were terrified of us and tried to drive us away. Moreover, we found the rotting flesh there increasingly unpalatable, so we simply left.]
Xu Ying's pupils contracted, and she pressed on, "Have you seen the people in this oasis frequently using chemical fertilizers?"

Xu Ying found some pictures of fertilizer packaging commonly used by residents in desert areas on her phone: "Have you ever seen similar bags or bottles?"

I showed the picture to the flock of vultures, and they all nodded: [Yes, yes. There are often many bags like that in garbage dumps.]
Xu Ying was horrified. There were often no fertilizer residues in the fertilizer bags, and these kinds of fertilizer bags were frequently found in the garbage dump.

Vultures often scavenge for food in garbage dumps, so their bodies are bound to be contaminated by chemicals in fertilizers. Therefore, the toxins in the baby vulture's body likely originate from fertilizers. To be on the safe side, we need to go to the oasis the vulture mentioned and conduct blood tests on other animals there, using a large sample size to determine the appropriate treatment.

In order to find out which oasis the vultures were talking about, Xu Ying contacted the technical staff at headquarters. Using the headquarters' GPS map, along with some details from the vultures' descriptions of the oasis they lived in, Xu Ying and the technical staff determined the location of the oasis to be the Crescent Oasis in the southwest of the rescue headquarters.

Crescent Oasis has a long history, named for its crescent shape as seen on ancient maps from 700 years ago.

Crescent Oasis is divided into four villages: East Village, South Village, West Village, and North Village.

Crescent Oasis is one of the areas in the Desert Journey that has been severely affected by desertification. In recent years, the oasis area has shrunk due to desertification, the soil fertility has been lost, and it is occasionally affected by sandstorms.

Fertility loss and sandstorms have led to reduced crop yields, forcing villagers to use chemical fertilizers to supplement the crops with nutrients and increase yields. However, the use of chemical fertilizers has further led to soil pollution, exacerbating desertification and creating a vicious cycle.

This is a short-sighted approach, but it's also the quickest way to see results. The villagers' main income comes from oasis agriculture.

Xu Ying reported the situation to Director Yi.

The animals have been contaminated by fertilizer residues. I wonder if the human life in this oasis has been contaminated as well?

The overuse of chemical fertilizers can affect the soil, which in turn affects groundwater, and groundwater is the main source of drinking water in deserts.

Residents of the Crescent Oasis may be facing significant health risks!
After communicating with relevant department staff, Director Yi felt that this situation could not be ignored.

They decided to send testing personnel and Xu Ying to go together. Xu Ying was responsible for collecting animal samples and investigating the situation with the animals.

The testing personnel are responsible for collecting soil and water samples.

"Comrade Xu Ying, you have worked so hard these past few days, busy with the little vulture project and helping to investigate fertilizer pollution in the oasis. I will definitely report your outstanding contributions to the desertification control area to the organization."

During the few days that Xu Ying was away from the 032 rescue station, the organization dispatched temporary rescuer Ning Zexi to oversee the work, feeding the abnormally obese animals and supervising their weight loss.

Xu Ying was initially worried that Ning Zexi might be too busy, but she didn't expect that he would report to her that with the fox cubs acting as supervisors, the elders of the fennec fox cubs were very cooperative with the five little darlings of the fox clan.

Xu Ying said seriously, "Director Yi, you flatter me. Everything I have now was given to me by the desertification control zone."

Director Yi looked at Xu Ying with the kind eyes one would use to look at a child; this child was becoming more and more mature in the desertification control area.

He handed Xu Ying a list: "The organization is worried that you'll overwork yourself, so they've decided to assign you a temporary assistant."

Xu Ying was overjoyed to hear this news. She's really something, she even has an assistant now?