为保护生态 澳大利亚今年将捕杀百万只袋鼠

Australia is planning to kill more than a million kangaroos this year to protect endangered grasslands and wildlife.

澳大利亚计划于今年捕杀超过一百万只袋鼠，以保护濒危的草地和野生生态。

Eastern greys are very cute, and a critical part of the ecosystem, but the huge number of kangaroos is destroying the ecosystem, argues Prof David Lindenmayer, a landscape ecology expert from the Australian National University.

澳大利亚国立大学的环境生态学专家大卫·林登迈尔教授表示：“东部灰袋鼠非常可爱，也是生态系统当中的重要组成部分，但是大量的袋鼠正在毁灭生态系统。”

"We used to have a huge number of top predators like the Tasmanian tiger. However, indigenous overhunting took them out, and then settlers culled predators like dingoes."

“我们曾经有大量食物链顶端的物种，比如塔斯马尼亚虎。然而，当地人的过度捕猎令它们灭绝，然后殖民者又清理了像澳洲野犬这样的天敌。”

"Now the bush is a bountiful food locker with lots of grass and water, and few predators other than the car."

“现在，草木林就是一个存量丰足的粮仓，草和水都非常多，但是天敌却很少，除了汽车。”

He says the real problem is that different value sets have clashed. "Animal welfare people care and protect some animals, but there are so many marsupials, they inhumanely starve to death," he says.

他表示，真正的问题在于不同的价值观发生了碰撞：“动物保护人士保护某些动物，但是还有那么多的有袋类动物，它们却不人道地被饿死。”

Prof Lindenmayer is concerned people are squeamish about killing them to cut down the numbers, partly because "the kangaroo is on the nation's coat of arms".

林登迈尔教授担心，人们对于捕杀袋鼠以降低数量的做法过于敏感，一部分原因是“国徽上面就有袋鼠”。

Although official statistics are not yet available, Louise Boronyak, from anti-cull group THINKK at the University of Technology Sydney, says about 1.6 million kangaroos were culled in 2016.

尽管尚未有官方数据公布，但是悉尼科技大学的反清理组织“THINKK”的成员路易斯·博罗尼亚克表示，在2016年有大约160万只袋鼠被捕杀。

The NSW government insists the quotas are fine, with an Office of Environment and Heritage spokesperson saying they are "sustainable in the long term".

新南威尔士州政府坚持认为，这个数量是合适的，而环境与遗产办公室的发言人也表示，它“从长远来说是可持续的”。

Each year the cull provokes controversy, with opponents suggesting there is no evidence that reducing kangaroo numbers helps the environment.

这种清理行动每年都会引发争议，反对者表示，没有证据表明减少袋鼠的数量有助于环境保护。

Dead kangaroos aren't wasted. The carcasses are used for dog food and some meat is sold for human consumption, but 95% goes overseas.

死去的袋鼠并不会被浪费掉。它们的尸体会被制作成狗粮，一些肉也会作为食品出售，不过有95%都会出口至海外。

"It's a shame we don't eat more at home," says Prof Lindenmayer, who is a fan of kangaroo steaks. "It's tender, with a lot of flavour."

本身就很喜欢吃袋鼠肉排的林登迈尔教授对此表示：“我们在本土吃到得很少，这很可惜。这种肉很嫩，还很有香味。”