VOA慢速英语2012 SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Elephants in Cameroon Fall Victim to Killings

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Elephants in Cameroon Fall Victim to Killings²

 

BARBARA KLEIN: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

MARIO RITTER: And I’m Mario Ritter. Wildlife experts are concerned about the growing number of elephants and rhinoceros⁴ being killed in Africa. Today we tell about the issue, and about some efforts to help the animals.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: The nation of Cameroon recently suffered one of the worst mass killings of elephants in years. Up to four hundred fifty of the animals have been found dead in the country’s Bouba Ndjida National Park since January.

A United Nations agency expressed deep concern over the killings. John Scanlon is head of CITES -- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna⁵ and Flora⁶.

A CITES study showed an increase in the number of elephant kills in two thousand eleven. Secretary-General Scanlon said people are killing¹ the animals for ivory – the substance that makes up their tusks⁷. He said the deaths are a major concern not only for Cameroon but for all areas where African elephants live.

MARIO RITTER: The CITES chief said the incident shows that a new poaching problem is taking place. He said poachers are using high-powered weapons to destroy elephant populations. Reports say groups from Chad and Sudan have attacked elephants during recent weeks. The hunters are thought to sell the ivory to get money, weapons and ammunition⁸ for armed conflicts.

CITES is offering African governments support for catching⁹ the hunters, and seizing the poached ivory. Countries where poachers pass through or trade are being asked to cooperate. And CITES has appointed its chief enforcement officer to organize an effort to respond to major elephant poaching.

BARBARA KLEIN:The government in Cameroon also has attempted to help elephants. On March first, it sent as many as one hundred fifty soldiers to the Bouba Ndjida National Park. They were deployed¹⁰ in an effort to save the remaining elephants. But a World Wildlife Fund official said another twenty elephants were killed after the soldiers arrived. Another Fund official described the effort as too little, too late.

The CITES study was the second recent one on elephant-poaching from Africa. The first came last month from the animal warden¹¹ at a U.N. World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He said poaching is so severe that dogs are trained and used to follow poachers.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: Like elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns have great value when sold. Some observers say people from Asia are paying high prices for jewelry¹² and other objects made from elephant ivory. They also say more Asians are demanding rhino³ horns for use as medicine. The horns contain keratin, a protein substance found in material including hair.

In South Africa, thirteen rhinoceros were killed for their horns in two thousand seven. Four years later, almost four hundred fifty rhinoceros were killed in just twelve months. The losses include both white rhinoceros and the smaller, black rhinoceros. Strangely, both animals are a gray-brown color instead of white or black, as their names suggest.

BARBARA KLEIN: Twenty ten was also a record year for rhinoceros kills in South Africa, the world’s largest homeland for rhinos¹³. Three hundred thirty three rhinos were lost to poachers during that time. The hunters cut off the rhino’s horn while a drug makes the animal unable to move. Many times the rhino is left to bleed to death. Or it never recovers from its drugged condition.

It is easy to understand why poachers want the horns. The International Rhino Foundation says the price of one is close to fifty seven thousand dollars a kilogram. Others place it much higher.

Lucy Boddam-Whetham works for the group Save the Rhino International. She is very concerned.

LUCY BODDAM-WHETHAM: “We are incredibly worried at the moment. We are actually facing the worst rhino poaching crisis for decades.”

Rhino poaching is not new. Rhino horns have been used for centuries in traditional human medicines. The horn has been thought to effectively treat high body temperatures and head pain. But recently, false reports have spread that rhino horn material can cure cancer. The reports are perhaps responsible for the huge increase in poaching.

MARIO RITTER: Tom Milliken studies international trade in wildlife products for the organization Traffic International. He says rhino horn cannot cure anything, let alone cancer.

Mr. Milliken directs Traffic International’s operations in southern and eastern Africa from Zimbabwe. He says the horn is usually ground into small pieces. These are mixed with medicines to form a pill that is swallowed. Or, he said it can be ground and mixed with water and drunk as a liquid.

Mr. Milliken says rhino horn is especially popular in Vietnam, where it is being sold for home use. An industry there manufactures small containers for grinding the powder at home.

Ms. Boddam-Whetham says many Asians have enough money to buy costly¹⁴ rhino horn products. She also notes the growth of trade links between Africa and Asia.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: What can be done to save the rhino population from falling in South Africa?

One idea being tried is removing a rhino’s horn to prevent the animal from being killed illegally. Many ranchers who raise rhinoceros for profit support this idea. That includes some whose animals were killed for their horns. The landowners say horns removed humanely¹⁵ then would be available for the market, reducing the price. And poachers would not attack rhinos without horns.

Another idea that has been proposed is making the sale of rhino horn legal. Activists¹⁷ for that plan say it would reduce criminal activity.

MARIO RITTER: Dr. Jacques Flamand is a wildlife specialist in South Africa. He has been working to help rhinos in other ways. These methods also involve ranchers.

Earlier in Dr. Flamand’s career, he became known for helping¹⁸ to rescue the white rhino population from disappearing forever. Now he is leading the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project. Its goal is to increase the home territories of rare black rhinos, which can raise their numbers. The activist¹⁶ organizations WWF and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife are working to provide wider, safer spaces where the animals can move freely.

BARBARA KLEIN: Over the years, Dr. Flamand supervised the transport of many black rhinos by helicopter. The process begins when the animals are given a drug that makes them sleepy. Then they are suspended upside down from the helicopter. They hang by their legs on strong ropes for a fast trip to another territory -- much faster than traveling by truck.

Veterinarians say the trip does not hurt the animals. Health experts watch them during the flight, after landing and during their release. And they say the creatures simply wake up in their new surroundings with much more space than before.

But Dr. Flamand said it was not always easy to get landowners to provide that space. Black rhinos interest many people, especially foreign tourists. But, as we know, they also get the attention of poachers. Not all landowners are interested in earning money from the tourist trade. Others are just not pleased to have two-ton visitors.

MARIO RITTER: Dr. Flamand told a VOA reporter that some landowners have combined their properties to create large areas. He said a lot of hard work was needed to persuade them. But now, many landowners have removed barriers that would have stopped rhinos from moving freely.

Recently, nineteen black rhinos were among a group of animals “translocated” to new territory. That brought the total population of the transported creatures to one hundred twenty.

Jacques Flamand says their rangeland territory has been expanded by thirty-four percent. Their safety has been improved. And landowners have increased security to protect the animals – and themselves – from poachers.

BARBARA KLEIN: Dr. Flamand says other wildlife also have gained more security and breeding space from the project.

JACQUES FLAMAND: “It is not only good for black rhino. It is good for elephants, vultures and especially another critically endangered species, the wild dog.”

Many activists praise Dr. Flamand’s work for rhinos. Still, as one South African said, “Any animal with the possibility of that kind of value will always be in some danger.”

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Mario Ritter.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

3 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

4 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

5 fauna   

n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系

参考例句：

• This National Park is an area with unique fauna and flora.该国家公园区域内具有独特的动物种群和植物种群。
• Fauna is a biological notion means all the animal life in a particular region or period. 动物群是一个生物学的概念，指的是一个特定时期或者地区的所有动物。

6 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

7 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

8 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

11 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

12 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

13 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 humanely   

adv.仁慈地；人道地；富人情地；慈悲地

参考例句：

• Is the primary persona being treated humanely by the product? 该产品对待首要人物角色时是否有人情味？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In any event, China's interest in treating criminals more humanely has limits. 无论如何，中国对更人道地对待罪犯的兴趣有限。 来自互联网

16 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

17 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。