Animal Detective

Chapter 542: Chapter 445: Mother and Child Separation

The elephant’s sudden movement startled everyone present.

"Director Chen, it... what is it doing?" Wang Feng asked, pointing at the elephant with a look of confusion.

In Dian Nan, wild elephants were only found in Mengle.

As for Dehong, it was said to have had many in ancient times, but now, not a single one had been seen.

The occasional fake news report about a wild elephant sighting in Dehong could still draw a sizable crowd.

Anyway, as far as Wang Feng could remember, he had never heard of a wild elephant appearing here in his entire life.

His knowledge of elephants was limited to what he’d seen at the zoo.

So, Wang Feng had never heard of an elephant... kneeling to a person?

Chen Ruidong shook his head silently, looking at Shen Xin in astonishment.

When they had chatted earlier, Chen Ruidong had asked Shen Xin how he trained the police birds. Shen Xin’s answer was that he was born with it—an innate ability to get close to all sorts of animals.

He had even given an example, comparing himself to people who always seemed to find stray cats or who dogs would immediately greet with wagging tails.

Chen Ruidong had met people like that before, so he hadn’t thought much of it.

But the scene before him now was still a shock.

From his perspective, it was as if the elephant, upon seeing Shen Xin, was actively showing goodwill, or perhaps... submission?

That’s why it knelt.

The problem was, they had just met. They were still strangers.

Everyone was deeply shocked, and Shen Xin was no exception.

Having interacted with so many animals, Shen Xin knew very well that they had feelings.

Likes, dislikes, happiness, sadness.

For intelligent animals like dolphins, their emotions were even richer.

They couldn’t speak, but they used all kinds of behaviors, calls, and even their eyes to express their feelings.

Just like Celestial Skill.

Not to mention now, but even when he first found her, her eyes were full of emotion.

You could feel it if you looked closely.

’So right now, what emotion is this elephant trying to express by kneeling?’

Thinking this, Shen Xin instinctively stepped forward.

"Shen Xin, don’t go over there," Pan Wenhai warned urgently.

Without looking back, Shen Xin waved his hand and slowly approached, his eyes fixed on the elephant.

It made no further movements. Compared to its massive body, its eyes weren’t large, and it had long eyelashes.

But Shen Xin could feel its gaze fixed on him.

It continuously let out mournful cries.

Shen Xin’s hand touched its trunk.

It didn’t resist, curling its trunk to gently touch Shen Xin.

A stream of warm, foul-smelling air puffed from its nostrils.

Just then, one of the two drug dealers was brought over.

The moment it saw him, the elephant violently swung its trunk and let out a deafening roar.

However, it didn’t attack Shen Xin, who was right beside it. Instead, it clumsily got to its feet and charged violently at the man.

CLANG! The loud sound of scraping iron chains echoed.

The thick iron chains pulled taut.

The drug dealer, who had a short beard and curly hair, shuddered in fear.

Chen Ruidong reacted quickly, immediately ordering someone to take the man outside the warehouse.

Then he went out to question him about the elephant’s origins.

The elephant let out a few more roars, agitated. It turned its head and, surprisingly, came back to Shen Xin.

Its roars turned back into the mournful cries from before.

The anger and sorrow were audible.

Then, it once again knelt down clumsily.

Shen Xin took a step back. It couldn’t reach him, so it stretched its trunk out as far as it could, as if it were a person in chains, stretching out a hand for help.

In that moment, Shen Xin suddenly understood what emotion the elephant was trying to convey.

It was a plea for help!

Shen Xin stepped forward. Just as he was about to say, "Don’t worry," a SWAT officer next to him suddenly said, "Is it crying?"

He saw that the gray-brown, dry, and rough skin around the elephant’s eye sockets was soaked.

It was crying.

"Okay, okay, I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll figure out a way to get you out of here right now," Shen Xin quickly comforted it.

It was clearly overwhelmed with grief.

It was probably wild, captured by the drug dealers for some unknown reason.

Locked in this dark place, chained up like a prisoner in jail.

On top of that, it was being tortured. With all these injuries, who wouldn’t feel wronged?

It cried out a few times, the tone of its calls changing noticeably. It seemed to have understood him.

Shen Xin looked at the iron chain around its neck.

It wasn’t padlocked, but welded shut.

He guessed they must have tranquilized it before putting the chain on.

Shen Xin turned his head and asked Pan Wenhai to find a tool, like an angle grinder or something similar. Since this place was used for cultivating bonsai, they should have a full set of tools.

Meanwhile, Chen Ruidong had finished his questioning. He also stepped forward, looked at the elephant, and said, "Shen Xin, I’ve got the story."

"The guy confessed. This elephant was captured by people hired by Cai Xingquan. It’s been over a month now, which means it was caught before the incident."

His expression grew more serious as he continued, "As for why, he doesn’t know."

"The crucial part is, it wasn’t just one elephant. They caught a pair—this one and a calf. They’re likely a mother and her child."

"As for the calf, on the 11th of last month, Zhu Kun arranged to have it transported away. They don’t know where it was taken."

"This elephant is the only one left. Occasionally, following Zhu Kun’s orders, they would try to tame it, but they never succeeded."

Shen Xin had a sudden realization.

’So the reason this elephant knelt and pleaded for help wasn’t because it was chained up, but because its child had been taken away.’

"Wait, why would they capture an elephant?" Shen Xin frowned.

’Trafficking elephants?’

’It’s a Class I endangered species. Who would dare to buy one?’

’Just for a hobby?’

’They made so much money from drug trafficking that they got reckless and decided to buy an elephant for fun?’

Some anti-drug movies did depict drug lords holed up in remote valleys using elephants to transport supplies.

’But why do it in this country?’

’Animal protection laws here are so strict. Why not go to Siam?’

Wang Feng had mentioned earlier that this Cai Xingquan seemed to be from Siam.

In Siam, you can legally keep an elephant with a permit. That’s much safer than poaching a wild one in this country.

Shen Xin looked at the mother elephant.

No wonder it knelt before him, pleading so desperately, even crying.

It was because she’d been separated from her child.

The calf was taken away on the 11th of last month, a whole month ago. He had no idea how old the calf was. The mother must be frantic with worry.

Shen Xin said, "Director Chen, look, the mother elephant is so distressed she’s crying. Can we try to find the calf?"

If for no other reason, it was a Class I protected animal. They couldn’t just ignore it.

Chen Ruidong didn’t even need Shen Xin’s reminder to know what to do.

Pan Wenhai returned with an angle grinder.

But looking at the multi-ton behemoth before him, he was hesitant.

The moment the angle grinder started, with its loud noise and sparks, the elephant would be spooked. No one would be able to hold it down.

With its monstrous strength, it could flip a car. A single strike from it could be fatal.

"Director Chen, how about we contact the rescue center? We can tranquilize the elephant first before we do anything," Pan Wenhai suggested.

Dehong didn’t have a proper large-scale zoo, but it did have a wildlife shelter and rescue center.

It was a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing wild animals.

To date, it housed several hundred animals, much like a zoo, and was usually open to the public for free.

Their job description was a perfect fit for the situation.

Chen Ruidong nodded and took out his phone to make a call.

Shen Xin thought so too.

They definitely had to contact the rescue center.

The mother elephant was covered in wounds; she needed treatment.

’And she looks very thin.’

Seriously, Shen Xin could tell just by looking that this mother elephant was thin.

He figured that after her child was taken, she hadn’t been eating properly, or perhaps the drug dealers hadn’t been feeding her adequately.

An elephant of this size probably needed to eat hundreds of pounds of food a day.

Chen Ruidong had the rescue center’s number. The city bureau often received calls from the public about wildlife sightings.

The person on the other end was stunned to hear they had found a wild elephant.

Chen Ruidong directly contacted Director Tan Qingming of the rescue center.

After hearing the situation, Tan Qingming took a sharp breath and said, "Director Chen, we’ve never handled an elephant before."

Wild elephant herds had never appeared in all of Dehong, so naturally, there had never been a situation requiring an elephant rescue.

"And Director Chen, it’s really not as simple as you say, just hitting it with a couple of tranquilizer darts."

"You don’t understand. Because of an elephant’s size, it requires a special anesthetic, and you also need a reversal agent. Otherwise, things can easily go wrong."

"And we have neither the special anesthetic nor the reversal agent here."

"Also, elephants are heavy. After being tranquilized, if they lie on one side for too long, their internal organs can be crushed by their own weight."

"That’s why when rescuing elephants, you have to get a crane to lift the tranquilized animal. It’s a huge hassle."

Chen Ruidong was getting a headache just listening. He told Tan to come over and take a look first.

Then he explained the situation.

The anesthetic wasn’t a huge problem; Mengle had a zoo and was familiar with Asian elephants.

The main issue was that the rescue center had never rescued an elephant before. If they messed up due to their inexperience and harmed the elephant, the consequences would be dire.

Cai Xingquan, the poacher, hadn’t cared about any of this. He just tranquilized it directly. It was sheer luck that he didn’t kill the elephant.

But for a proper rescue, they couldn’t be so reckless.

Thinking of this, Shen Xin said, "Director Chen, how about I give it a try? No tranquilizer, just cut the chain directly."

’I have a gift, and it feels like this mother elephant trusts me. It should be fine.’

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