Chapter 169: Visiting the Animal Management Agency

The next day, Liu Heming drove the Bear Kids, Selin, and the four Square Kittens to the place where Jenny and the others worked.

His work permit was ready, so Jenny invited him to come pick it up personally and also to familiarize himself with the route. After all, he was a Consultant now—it wouldn’t do if he didn’t even know where the entrance was.

The location was easy to find; he just followed the navigation. However, it was quite far from Liu Heming’s place—the drive took over two hours.

At first, Liu Heming thought that such a large organization would surely have an impressive building for their office. Even though they weren’t very high-profile, their authority was actually quite substantial.

But the actual situation here turned out to be beyond his expectations. It wasn’t an office building like those of government agencies, but rather some simple temporary structures. If Jenny’s and other people’s cars hadn’t been parked outside, Liu Heming would have suspected he had come to the wrong place.

“Haha, Dexter, I didn’t expect you to bring Selin along too,” Jenny said as she spotted the head poking out of the car window. She made a detour and ran over.

“I didn’t plan to bring him, but we were questioned once by the State Police on the way,” Liu Heming said with a wry smile.

Within Xiangshui Town, he could drive around freely. But outside, with so many strange animals, the State Police who checked them were startled. If Liu Heming hadn’t thought ahead and brought the adoption certificates when they set out, they might have arrested him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll give you a pass in a moment. With this pass, it won’t be inconvenient for you to bring them along anymore,” Jenny said with a smile.

Alex opened the passenger door, and the four Square Kittens jumped out from above. Liu Heming opened the rear door; Xiong Da climbed out first, then he carried Selin out, and finally, Xiong Er came down last.

The car hadn’t been parked properly earlier—it was too close to the neighboring vehicle. The little ones and the Square Kittens could get out without trouble, but Xiong Er’s much thicker body couldn’t fit through.

“Dexter, I didn’t expect you to bring them all along,” Alfred said as he came out from inside.

“After all, they’re under your management. I brought them along for a stroll,” Liu Heming waved at him.

“Are you a bit disappointed with the scale of our place?” Alfred asked as he approached.

“Yeah, I thought it would be very impressive, but now that I see it, your area here is actually quite spacious,” Liu Heming said honestly.

“There’s no other way; we’re very poor. To rescue more wild animals, we had to choose this location,” Alfred said with a smile.

“Although our Agency receives some government funding and some private sponsors, it’s still far from enough compared to the number of animals we need to rescue.”

“Really? It gives me the feeling that you’re barely scraping by,” Liu Heming said jokingly.

“Very much so,” Alfred shook his head. “Our actual annual expenses far exceed our budget. Not every pet owner treats their animals the way you do. Some even abuse them; we also take in many stray pets and abused pets here.”

“Rescuing these pets now makes up a large part of our daily work. Some can be released back into the wild after recovery, while others have to wait for kind people to adopt them.”

“That’s true. Last time, I heard from Jenny that you brought back quite a few Baby Alligators. Have they been released yet?” Liu Heming asked with a smile.

“Not yet; it’s not that simple,” Alfred said with a bitter smile and shook his head.

“The big alligator didn’t suffer much outside, but the Baby Alligators were a bit malnourished when they were young. Releasing them into the wild now would make it hard for them to survive. They’ll need at least another month or so of adjustment. By then, it’ll be very cold, and transportation will be very difficult.”

When they stepped inside, Liu Heming realized the Bear Kids hadn’t followed them in. He looked back and saw them hugging the staff outside. Selin was too aloof, the Square Kittens were too elusive to catch, so the only ones the staff could play with were the very enthusiastic Bear Kids.

After taking a careful look around inside, Liu Heming felt the place was more like a Zoo than an office. There was only one small office for administrative work; the rest of the rooms were prepared for the animals.

Some were for treatment, some for recovery, and some for temporary living. The outdoor space served as a recovery area for wild animals—those that had been treated and returned to normal, undergoing final training before release.

There were quite a number of animals here. People who have never raised animals wouldn’t know, but Liu Heming knew that taking care of so many animals would incur significant daily expenses.

Especially since there were large animals here too—one Black Bear had a big scar on its shoulder. Alfred said it had wandered into a residential area and was shot. It was in critical condition at the time, as a blood vessel was ruptured, but it seemed to be recovering very well now.

However, to release it back into the wild, they would have to wait until the weather warmed up next year. This Black Bear had been focusing on recovering from its injury and had no time to find a place to hibernate.

When the Black Bear, which had been lying down resting, saw Liu Heming, it curiously crawled over to the side of the cage. It didn’t roar at Liu Heming but simply looked at him with curiosity.

“Could it really be such a coincidence?” Liu Heming thought with a strange expression.

“What’s wrong?” Alfred asked curiously.

“Maybe, probably, roughly… I suspect this Black Bear might be related to our Bear Cubs,” Liu Heming said with a wry smile.

He didn’t know why, but he felt a sense of familiarity when he saw this Black Bear. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination.

“Dexter, it can’t be such a coincidence, can it? There are many Black Bears in Montana, and we found it far from your place,” Alfred said, somewhat incredulous.

He didn’t believe such a coincidence could happen here. He thought Liu Heming must be mistaken; after all, Black Bears all look quite similar.

“I’m not sure now. Let’s wait for the Bear Kids to come over and see how they react when they meet,” Liu Heming said with a bitter smile.

He finally realized where that sense of familiarity came from—it was the look in this Black Bear’s eyes, which resembled the look in his Bear Cubs’ eyes. And the reason this Black Bear was curiously examining him was probably because of his Animal Affinity, which made it so curious.