Xinhua All Media+｜"Post-95" resigned from Fortune 500 companies and chose to become a "Raptor Rehabilitation"
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 31st (Reporters Wang Bingkun and Luo Qi) On March 31, Xinhua News Agency’s client telecommunications channel published the title "Xinhua All Media+|"Post-95" resigned from top 500 companies and chose to become one "Raptor Rehabilitation"+|"Xinhua All Media+|"Post-95" resigned from the top 500 companies and chose to become a "Raptor Rehabilitation" report.
"Sufen, let's go, let's go from home, fly out, don't come back again!" The tie on the goshawk's legs was untied by the volunteers, and Bai Renwen stopped his work and stood still.
The bird of prey fluttered its wings twice, soared into the air, whistling and flying to the distance...
In the early spring, the vegetation of the northeast land sprouted.
On the eve of International Bird Love Day on April 1, the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center held the first wild raptor release event in 2021, including "Sufen". More than a dozen once injured goshawks, kestrels, vultures and eagle owls returned to the blue sky.
The audience and photography enthusiasts were extremely excited at the flying scene, but the 25-year-old Bai Renwen was somewhat silent.
Most of these birds of prey were taken care of by him. From diagnosing the condition to participating in the operation, from postoperative rehabilitation to field training, he witnessed the whole rescue process.
Now that he really wants to separate from the "elves" in the sky, he feels complicated.
However, he is deeply professional and knows that the best protection for wild birds is to stay away.
"Post-95" college students become Raptor rehabilitation specialists
Just for the "hers" in my heart
"This vulture was sent by a wildlife conservation volunteer a few days ago. It weighs more than 20 kilograms. You can see how naive it walks. It's a pity that its leg bones were injured and several tail feathers were pulled out. It needs to be kept quiet. Months."
"It's just an eagle owl, also known as an owl, with an old fracture of the humerus on one wing, and it may have to be aged here..."
Walking into the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center on Bird Island in Shenyang, Bai Renwen introduced to reporters while busy feeding and cleaning the cages for the disabled birds of prey.
A pungent smell permeated the cold and damp room.
This is Bai Renwen's "Xiaotiandi".
In a small office area, the operating room, CT room, ward, and food preparation room are all available.
On one wall is a publicity board for birds of prey in Liaoning Province, and a cabinet is filled with large and small eagle scarves and eagle hats.
Xiaobai said that these are sewing tools made by volunteers with leather and cotton cloth. "Wearing eagle hats on raptors and tying their claws can reduce the fear and thrashing of animals during treatment."
Raptor rehabilitation specialists are simply "bird doctors"-this is Xiaobai's definition of his work.
This is a new profession, and currently very few people are engaged in the country.
At a young age, it is Bai Renwen's choice to accompany the birds who "do not know human language".
A few years ago, the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center opened a base on the campus of Shenyang Ligong University.
Bai Renwen signed up as a volunteer when he was in his sophomore year. Starting from being an assistant to Wang Weiyan, director of the rescue center, he gradually learned professional knowledge and participated in basic operations.
One summer vacation, he simply stayed on campus to help.
Bai Renwen was most impressed by the rescue of a peregrine falcon called "Duo Duo".
When I first saw it, the whole bird was covered with gauze and looked very tired.
After recovering his life after the operation, Duoduo was found to be infected with avian palm inflammation, his paws could not be bent, and he could not stand stably.
Xiaobai was too anxious. The first thing he did to get up every day was to see "Duo Duo" and change the gauze for it.
Half a year later, "Duo Duo" who recovered from the pain was released to nature and never returned.
After that, Xiaobai's WeChat profile picture was replaced with a photo of "Duo Duo".
In the summer of 2019, he graduated from Bairenwen University and was lucky enough to be employed by a Fortune 500 company in Zhejiang.
Although he has a high salary in the south, he is always a little unhappy, and the sounds of birds and birds linger in his ears from time to time.
After working for a year, he resigned and returned to a familiar place despite his parents' objections.
"It's still free and at ease here!" Xiaobai said.
The Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center, which makes Xiaobai think about it, is affiliated to the Shenyang Forest Resources Monitoring Center.
Since its establishment in 2009, it has rescued more than 3,000 wild birds of all kinds, including more than 2,600 birds of prey. The survival rate of wild animals has reached 70%, and more than 90% of the survivors have been released to nature.
"Don't look at these raptors being ferocious, they are absolutely weak in the current environment." said Wang Weiyan, director of the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center. Human activities have greatly compressed their living space. Some of these rescued raptors are injured or injured. Injuries caused by natural causes such as bruises and lack of food, but many are also caused by human factors such as illegal breeding, hunting, and trading.
"The bird of prey is at the top of the food chain and is a'barometer' to measure the ecological environment of the region." Wang Weiyan said that no matter how many trees and no matter how green, a place does not have a bird of prey, the ecological environment is still very bad.
The Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center initially set up a base in the graduate school. Although there were many student volunteers, once they graduated, the familiar hands that were hard to cultivate flew away like birds and never returned.
"Bai Renwen is the first'homecoming bird' to fly back, and the rescue business can be regarded as a'successor'!" Wang Weiyan said happily.
Many people asked Bai Renwen, why did he deal with birds at a young age?
He replied that in countries where the rescue is relatively mature, his colleagues always refer to wild birds of prey as "she, he" ("she or he" in English), and never use "it" ("it" in English) .
"They are equal lives just like us. Are you worth it?"
Behind the glory is hardship
He said, "Much better than when the master was founded."
After the first flight, I knew that there were more people in the rescue center, and reporters often patronized his "Xiaotiandi". He appeared on the scene from time to time and gained attention that was the envy of his peers.
But most of the time, he still faces the elves alone. If it is not for in-depth interviews, it is difficult to find his efforts and hardships.
Every spring, the snow and ice melt in the north of our country, and many birds of prey move north from the warm south.
Shenyang is an important post on the ferry route. Every season, the rescue center's workload increases sharply.
Before 7 o'clock in the morning, Xiaobai began a day of work: getting up to thaw and cut the raw meat in the freezer, feeding them one by one, observing the recovery of the injured raptor, and changing the dressing of the raptor that had just undergone surgery...
"Some young birds are fed every hour. Nocturnal animals like owls are usually fed at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening." He cocked his fingers and enumerated the habits of raptors. "I encountered severely injured or poisoned birds. Observation and care are required every hour, and it is difficult to sleep peacefully at night."
Birds of prey are generally aggressive. During the interview, Xiao Bai stretched out his hands, and the rough backs of his hands were covered with dots and strips of scars, which were left by the sharp beaks and claws of birds.
"Everyone knows that you should wear protective gear when you come into contact with a bird of prey, but after you take it, some operations and care will not be fine, and it will easily hurt the animal." Xiaobai said jokingly, "It's okay, as long as you don't scratch your face, it's fine. "
The vernal equinox was past, but the reporter stayed in the rescue center for less than half an hour and shivered with cold.
It turns out that in order not to interfere with the raptor's perception of the environment, the room temperature of the rescue center is always as consistent with nature as possible. Even in the middle of winter, the highest indoor temperature is about 13 or 4 degrees Celsius.
"If the environment is too warm, they will mistakenly think that spring is here, moult and estrus ahead of time."
Although taking care of the birds of prey is monotonous and laborious, compared with the difficult steps of the master Wang Weiyan when he started the center, Xiao Bai thinks he is much lucky.
Before the official establishment of the center in 2009, Wang Weiyan and three members of the Shenyang Wildlife Conservation Association had spontaneously rescued poultry and birds for more than 10 years.
"At that time, there was not even a stable place, and I often took the birds to my studio to heal their injuries." said Wang Weiyan, an art teacher.
In the mid-1990s, the rescue of wild birds was basically a blank in China.
Wang Weiyan tried every means to collect rescue data from abroad, especially the videos of poultry undergoing surgery. Starting from bandaging the wounds, he fumbled for applying medicine, bones, stitches, etc. to the birds of prey, and mastered the rescue methods little by little.
In the beginning, the injured birds rescued by Wang Weiyan were mainly confiscated during law enforcement inspections by the local wildlife protection and management station.
After the Shenyang Forestry Bureau allocated shipping transfer funds to support the establishment of the center, they urgently needed to expand the scope of assistance. Every winter and spring, they would go to the mountains, forests, and rural areas around Shenyang to conduct publicity.
One year, they made hundreds of calendars, printed pictures and profiles of various birds of prey, called the rescue center, and sent them to farmers from house to house.
"The effect of the wall calendar is very good," said Wang Weiyan. Now our numbers are known in the surrounding rural areas of Shenyang. The number of birds aided by the center has increased from 30 to 40 per year when it was first established to 400 last year.
Since entering the center, under the guidance of Wang Weiyan, Bai Renwen has basically mastered the complete set of operations for the rescue of birds of prey from basic tasks such as cleaning the cage and preparing food.
These days, Xiao Bai started to learn another unique skill from his master-picking up feathers.
Wings are related to the flight and predation of raptors. In order to help injured raptors regain complete wings, Wang Weiyan accumulated the feathers of dead birds to set up a "feather bank."
When picking up feathers, Wang Weiyan found feathers similar to the breed, gender, weight, and age of the injured bird from the "feather bank", and used bamboo sticks to fix the feather tube of the injured bird and the feather to be transplanted together.
After receiving it, it is completely invisible that it was artificially repaired. The Raptor can fly and use normally as if it had grown wings.
There are more bird lovers
May more raptors fly into the blue sky
"Every bird of prey is a spirit of nature. Welcome more big friends and children to learn about bird of prey and join the rescue team..." Xiao Bai, the host of Liaoning Traffic Radio Station, is familiar with the voice.
During work breaks, Bai Renwen likes to put on headphones and listen to A Bao, who is also a volunteer for the rescue of birds of prey, talk about the habits of goshawks and vultures, Wang Weiyan, and his own story on the radio.
He knows that loving and protecting birds is no longer the career of a minority of him and Wang Weiyan, but the consensus of more and more people.
March 28 was Sunday. Despite the severe dust that day, the Bird Island Rescue Center where Bai Renwen was located ushered in nearly 10 volunteers. They all helped carry frozen meat, cleaned the cages, and installed publicity boards.
A 22-year-old volunteer Zhou Han is a senior at Shenyang Ligong University. After the rescue center moved from their school to Bird Island, he would take the bus for nearly 2 hours almost every weekend.
"Last year, Teacher Wang and Brother Bai came to our school to recruit volunteers. The original plan was 70 people, but more than 200 people signed up." Zhou Han, who had witnessed the scene, said. Treat him as an idol.
Now, with the support of relevant departments, the Shenyang Raptor Rescue Center has set up 3 rescue points in Shenyang Bird Island, Shenyang Changbai Island Forest Park and Shenyang Green Corridor, with a total of more than 180 volunteers.
"Even the cross talk actor Yu Qian is our volunteer. The year before last he went to Inner Mongolia with us to release three recovered vultures." Wang Weiyan said.
"There is a saying in the circle: playing fish and birds is not as good as playing eagles." Wang Weiyan told reporters that some people use cruel methods to raise and train birds of prey, just to feel the "king of the sky" and let them bring them when they are sent. The "sense of conquest" is at the cost of frequent injuries or deaths of birds of prey.
Wang Weiyan said that in recent years, Beijing, Dali, Yunnan, Heze, Shandong and other places have successively established raptor rescue centers, but such institutions are still too few. "Now the injured birds seized in Jilin and Heilongjiang Wildlife Protection Stations will be sent across provinces. We come to the center."
Compared with Wang Weiyan's "gloom" in many industries, Bai Renwen felt more "sunshine".
After the outbreak last year, the state further strengthened the protection and supervision of wild animals.
In the newly adjusted "List of National Key Protected Wild Animals" in February this year, vultures were promoted to the first level of national protection.
Xiaobai said that the country draws a red line and strengthens law enforcement, and we are closer to the harmonious coexistence of humans and animals.
Bai Renwen often sees this scene in Shenyang Bird Island: a half-person tall child is holding the parent’s hand, and the voice of milk is milky, but he corrects it seriously, "Mom, that’s not a magpie, that’s a kestrel, it’s a national secondary protection. animal."
Bai Renwen said with some comfort that Chinese people used to like birds and they used to buy a few and put them in a cage to admire.
"Now more and more children are observing from a distance, learning common sense from books and documentaries." He said that from taking possession of it to learning popular science, people's attitudes towards wild animals have begun to change.
Speaking of the future, Bai Renwen wants to get a veterinary qualification certificate, but also wants to spend more energy on his small video on Douyin.
There, he meticulously recorded many moments of rescue and recovery of birds of prey, which attracted comments and likes from tens of thousands of netizens.
(Video: Yang Qing, Gao Ming, Luo Qi, Cai Xiangxin)