随着旅游业的枯竭，非洲濒危野生动物面临危险

随着旅游业的枯竭，非洲濒危野生动物面临危险

With tourists gone and their money, too, protecting endangered wildlife like black rhinos has become that much more challenging. And the poachers, like many desperate to make a living, might become more daring.

随着游客的离去，他们的钱也花光了，保护像黑犀牛这样的濒危野生动物变得更具挑战性。偷猎者可能会像许多拼命谋生的人一样，变得更加胆大妄为。

Rhinos have long been under threat from poachers who kill them for their horns to supply illegal trade fueled by the mistaken belief that the horns have medicinal value.

长期以来，犀牛一直受到偷猎者的威胁。偷猎者认为犀牛角有药用价值，为了获取犀牛角进行非法贸易而猎杀犀牛。

Now there are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic may increase such poaching, said John Tekeles, a patrol guide and head of the dog unit at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

肯尼亚奥佩杰塔动物保护协会(Ol Pejeta Conservancy)的犬部负责人、巡逻向导约翰·泰克莱斯(John Tekeles)说，现在有人担心，新冠肺炎疫情可能会增加这种偷猎行为。

“We are more alert because maybe more poachers will use this time to come in to poach,” Tekeles said.

泰克莱斯说：“我们更加警惕，因为也许更多的偷猎者会利用这段时间来偷猎。”。

The number of black rhinos in Africa has been slowly increasing though the species remains “critically endangered,” according to a report in March by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN. It credits, in part, effective law enforcement.

根据国际自然保护联盟(IUCN)今年3月的一份报告，非洲黑犀牛的数量一直在缓慢增加，尽管该物种仍然处于“极度濒危”状态。这部分归功于强有效的执法。

Ol Pejeta is home to more than 130 black rhinos, the single largest population in East and Central Africa, said Richard Vigne, the conservancy’s managing director.

保护协会总经理理查德·维恩说，欧佩塔是130多头黑犀牛的家园，是东非和中非数量最大族群。

Protecting them is expensive. Ol Pejeta spends about $10,000 per year per rhino on that protection, Vigne said.

保护他们是昂贵的。维恩说，Ol Pejeta保护协会每年花在保护犀牛上的费用约为10000美元。

“In our case that comes to close to $2 million a year,” he said. “In the time of COVID, when tourism has completely stopped, where most of our revenue comes from tourism, the revenue we need to earn to protect the rhino comes from tourism, it’s a complete disaster.”

他说：“以我们的情况来看，这一数字接近每年200万美元。”。“疫情期间，旅游业完全停止，我们的大部分收入来自旅游业，我们保护犀牛所需的收入也来自旅游业，这是一场彻底的灾难。”

The conservancy expects to see $3 million to $4 million in lost revenue this year. Therefore, Vigne said, “our ability to look after the rhinos is compromised.”

保护协会预计今年将损失300万至400万美元的收入。因此，维恩说：“我们照顾犀牛的能力受到了损害。”

Conservationists across Africa are now monitoring to see how poachers might try to take advantage and whether more rare wildlife will be killed.

目前，非洲各地的自然资源保护主义者正密切关注偷猎者可能会如何利用这些资源，以及是否会有更多的珍稀野生动物被捕杀。

Africa’s various rhino species had been seeing a downward trend in poaching, according to the IUCN, with 892 poached in 2018, a drop from a peak of 1,349 in 2015.

据世界自然保护联盟(IUCN)的数据，非洲各种犀牛物种的偷猎量一直呈下降趋势，2018年共有892头犀牛被偷猎，较2015年的1349头高峰有所下降。

And the population of black rhinos had been growing by an annual rate of 2.5 percent between 2012 and 2018 to more than 5,600.

从2012年到2018年，黑犀牛的数量以每年2.5%的速度增长，超过了5600头。

That growth was projected to continue over the next five years, the IUCN has said.

世界自然保护联盟表示，这种增长预计将在未来5年继续下去。