POLAR BEAR ARC CHAPTER 4

After meals is when the animals are most relaxed and comfortable, so it's not surprising that the staff chose this time to act.

Otis was hit with a tranquilizer dart while resting with his eyes closed, but the drug hadn't yet taken effect. He lay on the ground, looking at Qiao Qixi with reddened eyes.

Perhaps he wanted to do something, but his body gradually lost strength, and he could only manage to keep his eyes half-open.

Qiao Qixi nudged Otis's face with his muzzle, making low sounds reminiscent of his cub days. He had no other intention but to express his farewell feelings.

Otis, who had always been indifferent to Qiao Qixi, seemed to realize something at this moment. Maybe, in any case, he uncharacteristically tried to raise his neck to touch Qiao Qixi.

But he couldn't succeed.

When the staff came in to take Otis away, they found Alexander curled up next to him, making it hard for them to bear.

Perhaps the companionship during this time had forged a deep friendship between these two polar bears.

Separating them seemed rather cruel.

However, the rescue center had its considerations. They wouldn't place the two polar bears too far apart, so if they wanted to find each other, it wouldn't be too difficult.

Qiao Qixi followed the cage carrying Otis all the way to the door, saying goodbye in his heart.

But he knew that the entire Arctic was vast, and the chances of meeting again were very slim.

Releasing polar bears is a massive undertaking.

The rescue center wanted to track the life of the rescued polar bear after its release, so the staff implanted a GPS tracker in the bear beforehand and then airlifted it to a sufficiently distant place, a process that could take two or three hours.

Otis was conscious during the transport, as the effects of the anesthesia were short-lived, to prevent any risk to his life.

The unfamiliar environment surely made him uneasy, possibly even causing him to become agitated.

So the cage had to be sturdy enough to withstand the struggles of an 800-kilogram polar bear.

Fortunately, Otis was calm on the way, not adding to the workload of the staff.

The rescue center chose a small, ice-covered island in the Arctic Ocean as the release area for Otis. Although the island had a name, the surrounding archipelago had too many to remember.

In short, there weren't many polar bears in the area, so if they didn't wander too far, they wouldn't likely encounter each other.

For closer releases, a sturdy net is used to secure the tranquilized polar bear, then a helicopter lifts it directly.

But this time, the release was far enough that Otis remained in the cabin until they reached the release site over 800 kilometers away.

The helicopter landed on a flat coast, and the staff began their work, giving Otis another shot.

"This big guy is really heavy; without the helicopter, we couldn't move him."

The cage with wheels was pushed to the ground, opened from the top, and the people tied the sturdy net to the helicopter, then lifted the polar bear out of the cage and onto the ground.

"Hurry and open the net; it might wake up soon!"

The staff ran around on the shore, busy.

Before Otis regained his aggression, they had to leave.

The helicopter hovered above, observing the polar bear on the ground.

"Is it awake?" a staff member asked over the radio.

"It looks good," replied someone on the ground.

"Haha, it's a strong big guy!" Seeing Otis waking up and wobbling forward, everyone was pleased, "Haha, good luck to it!"

"Goodbye, Otis, hope you don't encounter poachers again!"

After confirming the polar bear was in good condition, the helicopter that had been observing him for a while left the island.

More than a month later, Otis returned to the wild he was familiar with, though it was also a new place for him.

The new environment had no other polar bear scents, which Otis confirmed carefully.

At least within a 60-kilometer radius, he didn't smell any unfamiliar polar bears, indicating that it was an unclaimed area.

If there was enough food within this range, he generally wouldn't leave it to seek a new territory.

Of course, this is just generally speaking.

March to April is the breeding season for polar bears, and those over five years old without cubs will enter estrus, seeking suitable mates, often traveling long distances, ranging from a few kilometers to over twenty kilometers a day.

Although the breeding season was still ongoing, Otis was not yet five this year, and it would take another year for him to enter estrus next spring.

Strong polar bears find suitable mates during their first estrus.

If not, it may take a year or two longer or they may never find one.

The phenomenon of bachelorhood is not uncommon in the animal kingdom; it's actually quite common.

Five to six years in polar bears is equivalent to seventeen to eighteen years in humans, so strictly speaking, Otis is still a juvenile bear.

Returning to the wild in the latter half of spring, all he needs to do is ensure he has enough food, nothing more.

At this time, Qiao Qixi was enjoying a solitary life at the rescue center, knowing that it wouldn't be long before he was also released.

"Summer is coming soon; can Alexander really survive in the wild?"

It's clear that a polar bear just over a year old has no experience surviving a summer alone, and this summer will be particularly tough for him.

If they release him.

"I think we should be rational; after all, keeping him at the rescue center at an age when he should be learning survival skills doesn't benefit him much."

Long-term captivity might cause Alexander to forget all his wild survival instincts, making things worse.

If they can't keep him for life, it's better to release him sooner.

"It's really hard to part with this adorable little guy; he's so pure and kind-hearted..."

"Yes."

Alexander's gentle nature had touched everyone; no one wanted to send him away.

But reality forced them to do so.

The free world is the true home for polar bears, even if they eventually face danger and difficulty. Even so, people cannot keep them captive under the guise of love and protection.

That's not the true essence of animal conservation.

Qiao Qixi counted the time; after about three meals, roughly a day, he finally embarked on the journey back to nature.

The rescue center chose a release site for him that was over 100 kilometers away from Otis, a safe distance between polar bears.

At such a great distance, they wouldn't be able to smell each other.

After waking up, Qiao Qixi was quite bewildered because... as a "halfway polar bear," he had no wild survival experience.

Hmm, everything around him was so unfamiliar.

So! What should he do on his first day back in nature?!

In the Arctic, everything around is white; the icebergs all look the same.

He could barely tell directions, but it was useless.

Qiao Qixi lay on the ice, dazed for a while, feeling that one thing was urgent: hunting.

He was a novice, and hunting required practice; otherwise, he risked starving.

It's said that polar bears have a 1-in-20 success rate when hunting; that probability sounds exhausting.

Qiao Qixi looked at the fat he had gained at the rescue center, wondering how many days it could sustain him without food?

Twenty times?

Qiao Qixi felt he might struggle even with forty attempts.

The wild was colder than the rescue center, and walking on the ice was quite tiring.

Considering the helicopter visit earlier, the animals around should have hidden, so it felt very quiet.

But that was just a psychological feeling; in reality, the wind was strong on the ice, and the sound of the sea could be heard in the distance, maybe a familiar sound to the animals.

However, as a human, Qiao Qixi couldn't help feeling lonely and helpless in this environment, with nothing but snow and ice; it was quite lonely.

How do other polar bears live?

Oh no, other polar bears don't have so many random thoughts; only humans do.

That's just the way it is.

Qiao Qixi slowly walked towards the shore, hoping to come across a sunbathing seal.

But obviously, that would require a lot of luck.

Qiao Qixi didn't encounter any sunbathing seals along the way. Perhaps it was because he didn't know how to hide himself; the seals probably smelled the polar bear and hid.

Even if he did encounter a seal, so what?

Seals are so cute, and as a fake polar bear with human thoughts, Qiao Qixi felt he couldn't bring himself to pounce and bite the seal right away.

That would be too cruel...

After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Qiao Qixi decided that approaching the shore might not be wise, even if there were seals lying there; if he couldn't catch them, he couldn't catch them.

It's better to admit you're a noob and face the harsh realities of bear life before you can move forward.

Qiao Qixi used his keen sense of smell to search for breathing holes on the ice, used by polar animals to breathe; they come up occasionally to breathe and prevent the surface from freezing.

If Qiao Qixi had enough patience to wait by a hole, he wouldn't lack hunting opportunities.

But marine animals are very cautious and would choose a relatively safe hole to surface for air.

Qiao Qixi waited by a hole for about ten minutes, finally seeing an animal come up for air—a beluga whale.

Qiao Qixi was stunned, the round-headed beluga whale making him dazed. He didn't think of hunting; he was just bewildered.

Beluga whales are extremely cute and familiar to everyone; you can see them in almost every aquarium, and they are often the stars of marine shows.

Like seals, Qiao Qixi couldn't

bring himself to kill a beluga; besides, he couldn't anyway.

He watched the beluga swim up, circle around, then go back down, leaving a splash before disappearing without a trace.

What Qiao Qixi didn't know was that belugas are also prey for polar bears, who don't care if they're whales; if they're hungry, they go for it.

Qiao Qixi didn't know how long he had been waiting at the hole when, half asleep, he finally saw a group of fish come up for air.

They were the same kind he usually ate.

Just before he pounced, Qiao Qixi hesitated, wondering if he couldn't climb back up and might drown.

Although polar bears are great swimmers, capable of swimming 90 kilometers at a stretch, that's for real polar bears.

Opportunity doesn't wait. Despite his worries, Qiao Qixi pounced, biting his prey with eyes closed, relying entirely on his instincts and speed.

Feeling that he had caught something, Qiao Qixi was relieved. As he clumsily climbed back onto the ice, he savored his catch.

However, one fish was just a drop in the bucket.

And now that this breathing hole had a scent of blood, no animals would come up for air here anytime soon.

Qiao Qixi licked his mouth and paws, a bit disappointed, and headed inland to find another breathing hole to stake out.

With summer approaching, the ice and snow on the shore began to melt, and most marine animals no longer needed breathing holes to get oxygen; they would head to the shore.

But the shore was dangerous, and many animals still preferred staying under the ice, so Qiao Qixi still had opportunities at the breathing holes.

However, if he couldn't overcome his human thoughts and hunt seals and belugas, surviving on fish alone would be unrealistic.

After rotating through a few breathing holes and filling his stomach halfway, Qiao Qixi began to feel sleepy, starting to realize the hardships of wildlife.

Finding a suitable place to sleep, he thought of Otis, wondering how he was doing now?

Was he adapting to life back in the wild?

He should be, as he was originally a wild-born polar bear.

Jealous.

Revised ✔