In the Ruoerge Grassland, local Tibetan herders gave her the highly divine Tibetan name "Wolf Girl", and Jiang Rong, the author of "Wolf Totem", recalled the story and praised her as "China's first wolf girl".
What kind of mysterious woman can get such a lofty praise? How did she, and the steppe wolf, indissoluble relationship? In the bustling city, how did she hide the eyes of humans and raise wild wolves alone? Dancing with wolves, how to finally achieve the legendary life of this woman...
In June 2017, the movie "Return to the Wolves" was released in Chinese mainland, with a Douban score of 8.3, but the simple picture and unprofessional editing made the whole film appear rough, and it was not sophisticated enough to become a criticism point for some viewers. But behind the rough shots can not hide is the touching story of the heart for the heart, as the plot deepens, those tearful moments follow, mixed with admiration in empathy, and full of heart-wrenching shock in tears.
In the spring of 2010, Li Weiyi came to the Ruoerge Grassland to sketch, and a few years ago she had traveled in this land with her friends, and it was a strange and familiar feeling to come here again. In April, Ruoerge makes people step on this plateau meadow at an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters, and immediately feel that the air is thin, the sun is fierce, the long wind is strong grass, and almost no trees can take root and grow, only the vast grassland and the rolling shallow mountains.
Li Weiyi spent two days of sketching here, strolling between the vast world and the earth, giving her unparalleled relief and relaxation. As a painter, the scenery of Ruoerge is incomparable, and the wilderness and sky, grassland and mountains here are enough to achieve beautiful and excellent works. However, while resting at the herdsman's home, Li Weiyi heard a story that was enough to change the trajectory of her life.
This story is about wolves.
Shortly before Li Weiyi arrived, it had just undergone a bloody massacre. The wolf king of the Ruoerge steppe, in order to forage for his newly born wife, sneaked into the herdsmen's sheep pen to steal sheep. As a result, the front leg was caught by the wolf clip in the sheepfold, and in order to survive, the wolf king himself bit off the injured front leg. But he was not able to run far, was chased by the Tibetan dog, and finally died under the handle of the herder's knife in the confrontation between man and wolf. This tough wolf that would rather die than be killed was skinned by the herders, and everyone envied that the herders got a complete wolf skin, and in the market, the price of the complete wolf skin was high. Although the front leg is missing, it is also harmless.
Li Weiyi was already trembling when he heard this, but he was eager to know the situation of the Wolf King's wife and children. So the old aunt who told the story continued to describe to Li Weiyi that after the death of the wolf king, the wolf wife could not hunt herself, and the she-wolf stayed in the wolf cave during the birth of cubs, and the task of hunting and raising a family was entrusted to the male wolf. After the male wolf died, the she-wolf was like crazy, daring to break into the pasture in the daytime and bite three or four sheep in succession. At night, the she-wolf ran to the top of the hill or cried out one after another where the male wolf was killed, and this revenge ended with the wolf wife finally swallowing the poisonous bait put by the herders and dying of martyrdom.
There were six baby wolf cubs left in the wolf's den, taken away by the hunters, and it is estimated that none of them survived at this time... Li Weiyi's heart suddenly ached when she heard this, and she began to care about these small lives, so in Ruoerge in April, Li Weiyi began a trip to find wolf cubs. In China, wolves are second-level protected animals of the state, and those who illegally hunt or kill rare and endangered wild animals under national key protection, or illegally acquire, transport or sell rare and endangered wild animals under national key protection and their products, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also be fined. So everyone's mouth was very tight, but Li Weiyi did not give up, and after doing a lot of useless work, she finally spent five hundred yuan to find out the family where the wolf cub was located.
For the uninvited guest herdsmen are quite vigilant and repelled, everyone did not say a word, the expression was complicated to look at her, after explaining the intention, Li Weiyi shed tears. Everyone calmed down, and the herdsman told her that all six wolf cubs were dead. Li Weiyi looked painfully at the last little wolf who collapsed to the ground motionless, and his heart was full of apologies, which was the apology of human beings for these innocent beings. "Or am I late." Li Weiyi cried out, at this time, the little wolf on the ground suddenly moved, it was not dead! Li Weiyi immediately picked up the little wolf, and after feeding and nursing, the little wolf gradually recovered his strength, this place should not stay for a long time, Li Weiyi must take the little wolf away from Ruoerge.
Where can I go back after I leave? Can only go back to Chengdu.
Li Weiyi's home is in Chengdu, and the house she bought was taken from her parents to live with. But her parents, no matter how enlightened, would not allow their daughter to "lure the wolf into the house", and Li Weiyi's mother was a person who was afraid of even dogs, let alone wild wolves. Moreover, wolves are national second-level protected animals, and urban people must not be illegally fed in their homes. But no way, she had nowhere to go. Li Weiyi put the little wolf into the box and then returned home in a panic, the mother vigilantly asked if the box contained any stray cats and stray dogs she had picked up, Li Weiyi replied that it was just paint, the little wolf was very cooperative, and had been pretending to die, the mother kicked the box, there was no movement in the box, and she left with peace of mind.
Li Weiyi took the little wolf to the studio on the top floor of the house, which was a special place for her to paint, and no one usually bothered her. She took the wolf out of the box and fed him milk every day. Li Weiyi also has a Pomeranian dog that she has raised herself, named Fox because of her snow-white hair and intelligence. The fox appeared hostile to the arrival of the little wolf, and once when Li Weiyi was not paying attention, the fox almost bit the little wolf's neck. Here in the fox, the little wolf suffered a big loss. Another time, because of the fox's seduction, the little wolf's nose was stung by a bee and it screamed.
The little wolf is a natural master of concealment, and it understands Li Weiyi's hints. Once there is abnormal movement in the home, it will quickly run under the bed and quietly hide. "In nature, the first thing animals learn is to hide themselves and quietly observe their surroundings. Walk into a quiet forest, it seems that there is nothing around you, but there are actually countless pairs of eyes with all kinds of thoughts looking at you. To be a predator is even more so, first to keep yourself from being preyed, and then to hunt. "The little wolf has been good at this since he was a child.
As the days passed, under the careful care of Li Weiyi, the little wolf gradually grew stronger. It began to be curious about the world and behaved somewhat uncontrollably. It dared to walk out of the studio alone, and trampled li weiyi's father in the small vegetable field outside the painting room, and the neighbors also began to tell her that they often saw a "big gray cat" enter her studio, Li Weiyi felt that he could not stay at home for a long time, and it was urgent to find another place. At this moment, Li Weiyi thought of a friend she met during a visit to the Black Bear Conservation Center: Yi Feng.
At first, she did not dare to tell Yifeng that she had a wild wolf, and only lied that she wanted to find a place to settle stray dogs, and Yifeng gladly agreed. He just happened to have a single apartment for Li Weiyi to live in. With the help of Yi Feng, Li Weiyi quickly arranged her new home, a large room for the little wolf to move, the space is also very private, she is very satisfied. The paper wrapped could not hold the fire, and Yi Feng wanted to see the appearance of the stray dog, so Li Weiyi had to call out the little wolf.
"Wolf?!" Yi Feng opened the mouth of the little wolf and saw the fangs, and his vision of watching "Animal World" for a long time and having been in contact with wolves was not clumsy.
Li Weiyi had to admit it, crying and explaining the ins and outs of the matter to Yi Feng. Yi Feng is very sympathetic and understands what she is doing, but raising wolves is a very dangerous thing after all, and since ancient times, there have been various claims such as wolf ambitions, and raising wolves is really the next strategy. But Li Weiyi is very insistent, these days, she has a very deep affection for the little wolf, not to mention that the wolf has no servility, always yearns for freedom, although she raises wolves, but always carefully protect the habits of the little wolf, she will send her little wolf back to the wolf pack in the future.
Yi Feng didn't say anything more, but he was inexplicably worried in his heart.
The little wolf soon became familiar with the new environment, the full moon likes to bite around, now is the time for it to grind its teeth, Li Weiyi let it freely nibble on the objects of the family. From slippers to washing machines, the objects in the home can be said to be spared from the teeth of the wolf. Li Weiyi was very indulgent of the little wolf, she wrote, "He loves to do whatever he wants, let nature keep him wild and untamed, what he should learn is to distinguish food and hunting, these survival skills, which are much more important than playing with the ball frisbee and shaking hands to please humans." He is not a pet, he has wild blood flowing through his body, and he should retain the ambition of the wolf, the ambition of nature to like animals. ”
The little wolf spent most of his first month sleeping, always tired after playing for a while. One day, when Yifeng came to visit Li Weiyi, the little wolf greeted him and appeared affectionate, and Yifeng thought of giving the little wolf a name, and on that day, the little wolf officially had his own name: Green. Li Weiyi wants to write a Grimm fairy tale for her little wolf, and the wolf in her fairy tale is not a big badass, but a cute, sincere wolf who can accompany her when she is sad, who can make people happy and know how to be grateful.
When he was two months old, Green began to want to go downstairs, and he was always stuck at the door and deadlocked with Li Weiyi. Li Weiyi couldn't bear to hurt it, and once let it go out and walk around in the corridor, and Green saw that the high-heeled beauty waiting for the elevator was not extra vigilant, but curiously stepped forward to show goodwill. But who knew that this beautiful woman was afraid of dogs, and when she saw Grimm walk in, she was afraid that its paws would tear through her stockings, so she began to kick up and accidentally stomped Grimm's little paws with her own high heels. Green, like all frightened puppies, whimpered vigorously, and his injured paws swayed like pendulums with a sharp gasp and a cry, and one of his toes was missing from then on. Because of this incident, Green is particularly vigilant and afraid of the sound of high heels in the future, and Li Weiyi has never worn high heels again.
After Green's injuries healed, Li Weiyi took Green to the courtyard of the community for the first time. Because Green was still very young, no one recognized it, but Li Weiyi's heart was still hanging, afraid that Green had hurt people. After becoming familiar with the life of the outside world, Green's courage grew, and sometimes he ran away, walking on the street with a big wave. Li Weiyi wanted to tie a rope to it, but it would rather die than obey, the wolf has no servility, and it cannot accept this bondage. At this time, Yi Feng said to Li Weiyi, "After all, the wolf is a carnivorous beast, growing up day by day, he is full of food, if you are hungry one day, I am really worried about your safety." Indeed, Green is growing up day by day, Sichuan will also start to ban dogs, it is becoming more and more difficult to hide it in the city, Green once lost, so that Li Weiyi almost did not call the police, and the reports of neighbors also made her sleep and eat. In desperation, Li Weiyi went to investigate the zoo, and when she saw the wolf in the cage, her heart was sour, which could not be Green's destination.
To send Green back to the grassland, Li Weiyi made up his mind. The wild release of wolves has rarely or even none of the successful cases in history, Jiang Rong wrote: Before, there was no wolf raised by humans in the world that could survive after being released into the wilderness, because the lone wolf without independent predation, feeding and defense could not survive in the wilderness, and if he wanted to survive, he had to join the wild wolf pack. However, wolves fed by humans have a dependence similar to that of domestic animals, do not hunt, and are more dangerously ignorant of the family rules of wolves. Therefore, this wolf will not only not be accepted by the wolves, but will even be bitten by the wolves.
Before officially returning to the grassland, Li Weiyi first placed Green in his friend's Tibetan mastiff farm to live together for a while. This was the beginning of their devotion to the vast steppes. In the days of the Tibetan mastiff farm, because the wolf mastiff has a feud, Green suffered a lot. But it still survived tenaciously and learned how to deal with the strong. Li Weiyi began to deliberately rewild and train Green, and she accompanied Green to live in the grassland, taking Green to escape from the pursuit of prey. When Green was five months old, Li Weiyi fell ill in bed because of pulmonary edema, and Green would throw half a hare into her room, which was Green's precious ration, but he did not hesitate to starve and sent food to Li Weiyi's bedside. This was the first time that Li Weiyi felt the love of the wolf - fierce, pure, selfless, not abandoned, even if it was not the same kind of person, I could clearly feel his mournful breathing, broken heartbeat... This love from outside human beings does not carry a trace of impurity and pollution, it is as delicate and transparent as dewdrops, as broad as the grassland.
Li Weiyi, who left the grassland, returned to Chengdu to treat pulmonary edema, and after ten days she returned to the mastiff farm again, when she suddenly realized that Green, who was raised in the mastiff herd, was vague about her identity. The wolf has a genius ability to learn and adapt to the environment, and little Green learned, but learned crookedly. Green's interest in hunting became less and less interested, and he saw the pika in the distance, no longer with his eyes shining, his ears fluttering, and his tail tip jumping like a loach, but looking at it plainly.
Li Weiyi realized the seriousness of the problem, and she once again made a decision that stunned people.
She's going to find the wolves, and she's going to send Grimm back into the wolves. At this time, the cold of Ruoerge was approaching step by step, and she had to reach the Wolf Mountain as soon as possible. Because winter is the time for wolves to hunt, only this time can Green quickly integrate into the wolves. After several days of trekking, she finally stood at the top of Wolf Mountain and looked out into the distance, hundreds of kilometers of vast grassland. At Wolf Mountain, Li Weiyi waited for the wolves, and she allowed Green to look for the big wolf that often appeared. In the telescope, the wolf turned its body, never letting Green circle behind it, and let out a threatening low roar, its teeth clenching rapidly and crackling. She began to sweat for Green, but she couldn't get involved, which was a matter within the Werewolf Clan. A month is fleeting, Green still runs up the mountain beam night and night to call out to his companions, time has not lived up to Li Weiyi and her Green, Green was accepted by the wolves!
After Green returned to the wolf pack, Li Weiyi began the preparation of her wolf pack nature reserve. In this era of mercenary interests, Li Weiyi wants to devote everything he has to protect the wolves, or in other words, to protect our precious grassland ecology. She has not given up, she is using her strength to create a harmonious home for the grassland, for these precious species!
Resources
1 Movie "Return to the Wolves"
2 Some chapters of the documentary literature "Return to the Wolves"
3 Li Weiyi and Yifeng were interviewed by the relevant video