We lived in a quiet street with very little traffic so my mom let my brothers and me play out in the front yard a lot. One day we were outside playing when I saw something move under a bush near our neighbor's house. It looked very strange so we went over to check it out.

It was a puppy(小狗)II sat down in the grass and clapped my hands and it came running over to me and jumped on my lap.I was so happy.I had been begging my parents for a puppy for a long time and here it was.My brothers were going crazy.

I carefully carried the puppy to our yard and yelled with excitement,"Mom,Mom,guess what I found under the bush next door?"My mom came out of the room,looked at me,looked at the puppy and then back at me. "Mom,I think it's lost;it doesn't have a collar(项圈)or any tags.   And Mom,it surely looks hungry.”

Mom got a bowl and filled it with water.Then she got some food from the refrigerator and put it in another bowl.I put the puppy down.She ran joyfully over to the bowls and started eating and drinking.I was right…she was hungry.After a full meal,she curled up into a ball and went to sleep.My brothers and I just sat on the floor and watched her contentedly,praying this   moment would last forever.

My mom said that we needed to try and find the owner of the puppy.I didn't want to do that.I wanted to keep the puppy for my own.But Mom said that the owner was probably worried about the puppy and sorry that she was gone.She asked me how I would feel if I had lost my puppy.Would I want the person who found it to try and find me?Or just keep the puppy?

"Maybe she is right,”I thought.

We tried our best to find the owner.

One day,the phone call I least wanted to receive rang.

To mark their hard work and contribution to wildlife protection in the reserve, last year, Shi’s 20-member team was recognized with a special award at an online award ceremony for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas’ International Ranger Awards.

Kathy MacKinnon, head of the commission, speaks highly of their work, saying that they are “critical to our global conservation efforts, helping to stem biodiversity loss and protect the important ecosystems that serve as natural solutions to climate change and other global challenges".

Shi realizes that through protecting endangered animals, like giant pandas and snow leopards, the rich biodiversity of the environment can also be maintained, which is a win-win situation.

After graduation from Sichuan Forestry School(now Sichuan Agricultural University) in 1992, Shi became a forest guardian at the Wolong National Nature Reserve.

Established in 1963, Wolong is the country’s earliest panda reserve. It experienced serious human-animal conflict, such as illegal logging and hunting before the 1990s. In 1978, an observation tent, claimed to be the country’s first field camp to study wild giant pandas, was built on a steep forested slope in the reserve.

In the early 1980s, the government cooperated with the World Wide Fund for Nature to establish the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda to save the endangered animal.

At the very beginning, it was really difficult for rangers. With no proper outdoor equipment, like protective jackets or sleeping bags, every time, going around the area could be a life-threatening adventure. Plastic woven bags were commonly used for warmth and as makeshift tents for emergency cases. For Shi, the real challenges are natural disasters, which cannot be predicted.

He has a vivid memory of a snowslide in June 2017 during a routine inspection. “We were about to climb over a 400-meter-long mountain pass,

There is a lot of hard work involved in protecting wildlife, but there are also some surprises from the job.

Help Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs are nature’s recyclers. They eat waste and help keep oceans and shores clean. Unlike other crabs, the hermit crab has a thin outer shell over its soft tail. This makes the hermit crab easy prey for hungry predators (天敌). Hermit crabs stay safe by living in old seashells. A hermit crab is picky (狡猾); it tries on many shells until it finds one that fits just right. In recent years, however, many hermit crabs have had trouble finding their perfect homes. What is the problems There are not enough shells to go around!

One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was. This has caused chemical changes to sea water. Some sea animals, like snails, are affected by these changes.   Now there are fewer snails making shells. People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs (纪念品). This is another problem. Other people even take shells for their own pet hermit crabs! They do not realize that hermit crabs in the wild need those shells too.

Now people are working to solve this hermit crab housing shortage. They are teaching beach-Boers to leave seashells where they belong--at the seashore! Some people even make fake seashells that they hope the hermit crabs will like. For example, a group called Project Shelter invited people who visited their website to create different designs for hermit crab shells.

These designers had a lot to consider. What kind of material should be used to build a seashells. The material must be light enough for the hermit crab to carry, but strong enough to protect the crab from predators. The man-made shells could not contain glue or any other substance (物质) that might harm a hermit crab. Another challenge with building a hermit crab home was the opening to the shell. Too big would mean the crab would not feel safe. Too small would be uncomfortable, and the crab would not want to move in.

I am Li Hua.an exchange student from China. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________