1418 Bird Safety Collar (1/2)
Zhang Zian drove the Wuling Hong Guang MPV back to the pet store. Instead of turning on the air conditioner, he opened the window. Not only was it fuel-efficient, but he had also been driving the whole day. Pets, including aquatic ones, would've inevitably begun to smell. Thus, keeping the car window closed in summer was a bad idea.
To his surprise, Grandma Gu stood at the door shaking slightly whilst fanning herself with a small palm fan as if waiting for him to appear.
”Grandma Gu!” He got out of the car, opened the door of the store and invited Grandma Gu to hurriedly get inside. ”Why don't you come in, there's air conditioning inside.”
To attract customers, the glass door of the pet shop was decorated with a sign that read: ”Air conditioning is operational” placed next to the aquarium. The air conditioner was more powerful, while the outdoor unit worked 24 hours a day. It was estimated that the electricity bill that month would be exorbitant.
”Well, I don't feel hot. The fan is just right. I'm old, and I can't stand the air conditioning. I'm prone to getting sick from them,” Grandma Gu explained.
Grandma Gu didn't enter the store, but Richard took the opportunity to rush out of the store and fly onto Zhang Zian's shoulder.
”What do you mean, you're getting old? Grandma Gu, you keep getting younger! 82 this year, 28 the next year!” he said.
”I'm not 82 this year! Do I look that old?”Grandma Gu stroked the wrinkles on her face, feeling slightly depressed.
”I didn't mean it like that...” Zhang Zian immediately changed the subject, ”Did you need something?”
”Well, the battle against the insect disaster seems to have come to an end. However, our sister cities that used birds as a biological deterrent haven't been doing so well since they eat caterpillars.” Grandma Gu took out a piece of material. ”There are cities nearby that need our help. These birds don't breed easily. I heard from somewhere that we should consider the possibility of another insect disaster in nearby cities. We need to do our best to protect the environment and prevent these birds from. We should allow them to thrive so that they will benefit us as well.”
Zhang Zian listened carefully but didn't think it had anything to do with him for a moment.
During the worst insect infestation, certain breeds of caterpillars had developed strong resistance toward insecticides, resulting in their ineffectiveness. They had to employ other pest control methods such as new insecticides or biological control. The use of birds was one such strategy amongst many others.
Grandma Gu took off her reading glasses and looked at Vladimir next to her. ”Some people said that many birds were killed by cats who ate them.”
”Er... Do you mean stray cats?” asked Zhang Zian.
If stray cats were killing the birds, then Vladimir needed to strictly restrain them. They should not be underestimated. As soon as it was proven that stray cats were eating birds, they had to find a way to control them so they could deal with the problem.
Stray cats are the killers of small animals in urban areas. They hunted for different things and killed all mammals, rodents, reptiles, and particular birds in the city. In many places, this led to an ecological disaster.
Objectively speaking, this pest disaster in Binhai City was partly because there were too few wild birds in the city. Caterpillars needed to be suppressed in the early stages to prevent an outbreak. Even so, this situation existed in most cities.
Grandma Gu nodded initially, then shook her head. ”Stray cats are really a problem, but there's no solid solution as of now. All we can do is find a way to keep domesticated cats from eating birds. ”
It didn't make sense to ask many people to keep domestic cats from not eating birds. How could domestic cats eat birds if they were raised indoors?