在黑龙江逗留的普京之虎返回俄国

Siberian Tiger, Freed to Roam by Putin, Returns From China Sojourn

在黑龙江逗留的普京之虎返回俄国

BEIJING — Kuzya, the peripatetic Siberian tiger who two months ago wandered into China from Russia, prompting an international incident of sorts over concerns he might become the quarry of Chinese poachers, has reportedly returned to his native land, at least for the time being.

北京——据报道，四处游走的西伯利亚虎库兹亚(Kuzya)至少已暂时回到自己的祖国。两个月前，它从俄罗斯进入中国，在一定程度上引发了担忧，因为它可能会被中国偷猎者捕获。

Russian and Chinese conservationists on Wednesday reported that Kuzya, one of three rescued cubs that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia released into the wild last May, had crossed the frozen Amur River that separates the two countries, according to the tracking device he wears.

中俄两国的环保人士周三通报称，库兹亚身上携带的追踪装置发出的信号显示，它已经越过已结冰的两国界河黑龙江。今年5月，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)解救了三只老虎，并将其放归自然，库兹亚便是其中之一。

Experts say there are fewer than 450 Siberian tigers left in the taiga of Russia’s far east. Across the border in China, illegal hunting has reduced their numbers to less than 30. Much of the demand comes from the Chinese side, where tiger parts are prized for their perceived medicinal value and a single carcass can fetch $10,000.

专家称，在俄罗斯远东的针叶林带地区，目前仅剩不到450只西伯利亚虎(中国称东北虎——译注)。而在边界这一边的中国，非法狩猎导致其数量下降到了不足30只。对西伯利亚虎的大量需求来自中国。在这里，因为被认为具有药用价值，老虎制品备受青睐，一具老虎尸体可以卖到1万美元(约合6.1万元人民币)。

Mr. Putin, who has sought to soften his tough-guy image by publicly cavorting with endangered animals, has made tiger conservation one of his trademark issues. It was Mr. Putin, in fact, who pulled the rope that freed Kuzya from his enclosure and unknowingly set him on a transnational journey of several hundred miles.

普京希望通过公开与濒危动物嬉戏的方式，让自己的硬汉形象变得温和。他把保护老虎作为自己的标志性工作之一。实际上，正是普京拉开了将库兹亚放归自然的绳索，继而无意间让它走上了一段数百英里的跨国旅程。

The fact that Kuzya managed to survive his Chinese sojourn was seen as something of a triumph, given the ubiquity of snare traps, the large number of human settlements in China’s northeast Heilongjiang Province and what Russian tiger experts feared would be a shortage of natural prey.

考虑到在位于中国东北地区的黑龙江省，狩猎陷阱无处不在，且人类居住区数量庞大，库兹亚在中国逗留期间得以存活下来，在一定程度上就被认为是一种胜利。此外，俄罗斯的老虎专家也曾担心，中国缺乏自然猎物。

“I can’t tell you he’s going to stay in Russia but the good news is that during his time in China, he was very well behaved,” Maria Vorontsova, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Russia, said in a phone interview Wednesday.

“我没法和你说它会留在俄罗斯，但好消息是，在中国逗留期间，它表现得很好，”国际爱护动物基金会(International Fund for Animal Welfare)在俄罗斯的负责人玛丽亚·沃龙特索娃(Maria Vorontsova)周三接受电话采访时说。

The same cannot be said for Ustin, another rescued Siberian tiger from Russia who, since arriving in China last month, has been feasting on livestock, to the consternation of local farmers. Two weeks ago, wildlife officials in Heilongjiang blamed Ustin for the demise of at least 18 goats, some of which were found with their skulls crushed or riddled with finger-size holes, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

另一只获救后从俄罗斯过来的西伯利亚虎乌斯京(Ustin)情况就不同了。自上月来到中国后，它一直大肆捕杀家畜，引起了当地农民的恐慌。官方通讯社新华社报道，黑龙江省负责野生动物事宜的官员在两周前称，乌斯京咬死了至少18只羊，且一些羊头骨碎裂，头部满是手指般粗细的洞。

By contrast, the scientists tracking Kuzya’s movements — and examining his scat — say he largely sustained himself on wild boar.

相比之下，追踪库兹亚的行踪并研究其粪便的科学家称，它主要以野猪维生。

Whether Kuzya will stay in Russia is anyone’s guess. But Zhang Minghai, vice director of the State Forestry Administration Feline Research Center in Heilongjiang, suggested that Kuzya’s latest border crossing was temporary.

谁都不知道库兹亚是否会一直留在俄罗斯。但黑龙江国家林业局猫科动物研究中心副主任张明海表示，库兹亚越境返回俄罗斯是暂时的。