时代周刊:动物危机(1)（在线收听）

South Africa's game parks risk going under. So do their animals.

南非的狩猎公园面临危机，那里的动物也是如此。

On March 26, The day south Africa closed its borders to help curb the spread of COVID-19, Kayla Wilkens thought of only one thing: How was she going to feed the elephants?

3月26日，也就是南非为了抑制新冠的传播而关闭边境的那一天。在这一天，凯拉·威尔肯斯只想着一件事：以后大象怎么喂？

Wilkens, the general manager of the privately owned Fairy Glen safari resort, about 71 miles outside of Cape Town, knew that the park's budget depended on tourism. Without that income, taking care of the lions, rhinos, zebras and antelope that populate the 1,235-acre reserve would be difficult. That night, Wilkens sat down with her partner and Fairy Glen owner, Pieter De Jager, to map out the future. If they gave up their own salaries, laid off all but two of their 30 staff, stopped security patrols and put off repairs, they figured they just might make it for a couple of months. After that, though, they would have to prepare for the worst.

威尔肯斯是一家私营的名为“仙女谷”的狩猎度假村的总经理，该度假村位于开普敦城外约71英里(约合71公里)的地方。威尔肯斯知道公园的收入依靠旅游业，没有了这笔收入，要照顾这片1235英亩的公园里的狮子、犀牛、斑马和羚羊将会非常困难。当晚，威尔肯斯和她的老公，即仙女谷的所有者彼得·德·雅格坐下来对未来做一个规划。如果他们放弃自己的收入，解雇30名员工中的28名，不再进行安全巡逻并推迟维修，那么他们只能再维持几个月的时间。不过，几个月之后他们就不得不做最坏的打算了。

"We had to force ourselves to think about maybe having to put down our animals rather than let them starve to death," she says, her voice cracking at the thought. "We can't just put them outside and expect them to look after themselves."

“我们必须强迫自己去思考，我们应该杀死我们的动物，而不是让它们饿死。”说到这里，她的声音嘶哑了。“我们不能把它们放在外面，指望它们能自己照顾自己。”

The elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions and leopards that make up the classic safari "Big Five" checklist may be wild animals, but in South Africa's private game reserves, at least, the illusion of wilderness is built upon a scaffold of costly maintenance. Private reserves here spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to buy, feed, breed, care for and protect their animals, money that is recouped through safari drives and luxury accommodations. It is a privatized form of conservation that not only keeps endangered species alive but also guards vast tracts of biodiverse wilderness from development. The collapse in tourism during the coronavirus pandemic has brought many of South Africa's 500 or so private game parks to their knees, according to a survey by a tourism agency in the Kruger Lowveld district.

大象、犀牛、水牛、狮子和豹子组成了经典的“五大野生动物”清单，但至少在南非的私人禁猎区，荒野的假象是建立在昂贵的维护基础之上的。这里的私人保护区每年要花费数十万美元购买、喂养、繁殖、照料和保护那里的动物，这些钱会通过狩猎活动和豪华住宿来收回。这是一种私有化的保护形式，这样不仅能够使得濒危物种得以存活，同时还保护了大片具备生物多样性的荒野不被开发。克鲁格洛维尔德地区一家旅游机构的调查显示，南非有约500家私人狩猎公园，而新冠防控期间旅游业的陷落已经让其中很多家陷入了困境。

Africa's great national parks are also at risk. Animals always live off the land in South Africa's giant Kruger park, and the even wilder Masai Mara of Kenya and Tanzania's Serengeti. African governments have long resisted pressure to otherwise exploit such areas because conservation and tourism promised to be even more long-lasting and lucrative, worth approximately $71 billion a year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Now, with safaris at a standstill, funding for both private and public reserves is drying up, even as they face the ongoing expense of keeping their animals alive.

非洲最大的国家公园也面临危机。动物们一直以南非巨大的克鲁格公园、肯尼亚更为荒凉的马赛马拉和坦桑尼亚的塞伦盖蒂的土地为食。长期以来，非洲各国政府一直拒绝对此类地区进行其他开发，因为靠保护和旅游业所获利润有望更持久且更丰厚，据世界旅游和旅游理事会称，每年的利润高达710亿美元。如今，由于狩猎活动停滞不前，他们面临的不仅仅是维持动物生存的持续性开支，整个私人和公共保护区的资金都在枯竭。