Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

"Andria, found anything?"

On the patrol vehicle, Old Barry sounded the horn, scaring away the surrounding animals, and shouted to Andria who was searching for traces in the distant bushes.

After receiving the news of Cecil's disappearance from Dr. Assistant Brent, Old Barry and Mensa immediately reported the matter to the conservation center's administrators and repeatedly emphasized the possibility of an illegal killing.

Having worked at the conservation center for decades, Old Barry's face was essentially a heavy-weight pass throughout the center. His words drew serious attention.

The administrators reported the suspected illegal hunting activity; the news went all the way to the wildlife crime office, whose senior managers immediately ordered an investigation.

Among the investigators, naturally, were the discoverers Old Barry and Mensa. Furthermore, with his extensive experience handling such matters, Old Barry was sure to be involved even under normal circumstances.

The Andria mentioned by Old Barry was an anti-poaching ranger who had devoted himself to wildlife protection. He had professional investigative training in wildlife crime and was an excellent former military retiree.

He joined Old Barry in investigating Cecil's disappearance case, and now the three of them were in the realm of the Lion King, Cecil, investigating the condition of the lion pride.

Hearing Old Barry's inquiry, Andria did not stand up; instead, he raised his right hand above the bushes, gesturing in a way that was visible to Old Barry.

"Come over and take a look."

Old Barry unfastened his seatbelt, while Mensa in the passenger seat instinctively picked up the shotgun lying on the seat, loading it with bullets.

This wasn't for dealing with animals, but to guard against any poachers that might be present.

On the African Savannah, most animals reproduce naturally, and even the least intelligent ones know to stay away from humans after generations of hunting. In truth, the real danger came from humans themselves.

When the two carefully reached the bushes, the horrifying scene in front of Andria made them swear out loud.

Behind the bushes lay a shot lioness; the bullet holes in her body were particularly conspicuous.

Her body had been gnawed on, the blood underneath had dried to black, hardened clumps that had saturated the soil, finishing off the newly sprouted grass wherever it flowed, leaving behind only a few unknown mushrooms.

"The high salt content in the blood can cause dehydration in plants. When it seeps into the soil, it hardens, making it difficult for roots to get air. Both factors make it hard for plants to grow unless the salt is diluted with water and decomposed, then saprotrophic plants like mushrooms might grow."

Andria squatted on the ground, picking up a chunk of soil with two fingers and crumbling it while explaining. He then looked up at the sky, gauging the moisture in the air, remembering the weather from the past couple of days.

He wasn't a professional mushroom grower, but one naturally sees a lot after spending enough time in the forest.

For example, after an overnight rain, one might find small mushrooms sprouted on dead trees the next day. A careful observation could reveal many unique and little-known patterns.

"The blood produces a lot of heat during decomposition, damaging the root system. The mushrooms must have grown after it rained. Considering the recent rain, it would take more than one dilution, so she has been dead for at least two days."

The expressions of everyone present were grim; the demise of the lioness, coupled with the two-day window, confirmed that things looked grim for the Lion King, Cecil.

In the wilderness, it was challenging to come across poachers in action, but finding traces they left behind was much simpler.

Often, the first thing to do at the scene or upon receiving an alert was to process the crime scene. Some poaching occurrences had already been left for 8 to 10 days or longer, with the animal carcasses rotting away.

It was already considered extremely fast to discover the scene within two days, but in terms of the entire poaching operation's timeline, it was still too late.

Killing animals is far too easy, a single bullet, not even ten seconds are necessary.

All tragedies are irreversible, and all that can be done is to seek remedies.

"Let's start with the autopsy,"

Andria put on gloves, took out the appropriate tools, and skillfully made an incision at the bullet entry point, performing an on-site autopsy, which was part of the ranger's field duties.

Field processing included dissecting the animal's carcass to study the weapons and poaching methods. Rangers were to cut open from the bullet entry point to observe the bullet path and, if necessary, remove ribs in order to retrieve the bullet.

The rangers' true mission was not actually to kill the poachers but to bring them to justice, hence special attention was required for evidence collection.

If contraband and weapons could be seized at the same time, the court could impose a maximum of 45 years imprisonment, imprisonment mainly because South Africa did not have the death penalty.

Without enough evidence, poaching suspects could at most be sentenced to 2-3 weeks of imprisonment or a mere 500 Rand fine.

One of Andria's proofs of his outstanding ability was his excellence in gathering evidence; the majority of poachers handled by him would die of old age in prison.

Corruption had made the lion's muscles no longer tough; the tough steel knife easily sliced through the skin and flesh layers, and the intense odor exploded like a bomb, though the people present remained unfazed, as they were accustomed to it.

After a series of operations, Andria quickly obtained what he wanted and collected the physical evidence in sealed plastic bags.

After taking enough photographs, the three moved toward the more central area of the lion pride's territory.

At this point, Old Barry could only pray that things hadn't reached the worst-case scenario, the complete annihilation of the entire lion pride.

The jolting patrol car rolled over the uneven grassland, carrying the three heavily burdened individuals toward the heart of the territory.

Lion prides in the Kalahari Desert might occupy territories of 119-125 square kilometers,

but due to the fertile land in all of Kenya's national parks, competition for territory among lion prides was exceptionally fierce — Nairobi National Park was the utmost in internal rivalry, with prides here counting themselves lucky to secure 3 square kilometers, the largest territory barely exceeding 4 square kilometers.

Cecil's pride was not in Nairobi but was also not much larger, under five square kilometers.

Moreover, with overlapping territories among different lion prides, members of a pride were almost always active in the central area, making them easy to find.

However, the members of the pride would usually split into several smaller groups to spend their days, only gathering together for collective hunting or feeding.

So by the time the three located all the small groups and assessed the situation of Cecil's pride, they found one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was, indeed, things hadn't reached the worst possible scenario; the pride hadn't been completely wiped out, and many lionesses remained.

The bad news was that all the young lion cubs of the entire pride had vanished.

"Wait, come quick, there are wheel hub marks here!"

Andria pointed to the indentations on the ground.