VOA标准英语2013--Minister: Zambia Losing Too Many Lions and Leopards

 

Minister: Zambia Losing Too Many Lions and Leopards¹

Zambia’s tourism minister has announced a partial ban on the hunting of lions and leopards. She warns their numbers may be too low to allow safari² hunting to continue for now. What’s more, there’ll be a study of the lucrative³ industry following reports of corruption⁴ and lack of compensation for the government and local communities.

Tourism Minister Sylvia Masebo said the government is breaking from the past and is “putting conservation at the core” of its management policies. She said that Zambia has not fully⁵ benefitted from allowing safari hunting to take place. According to Masebo, Zambia needs to conserve⁶ and control its wildlife resources.

“We are concerned as government in that our stock levels, especially in as far as the cats are concerned, we were not very sure what was on the ground. And we felt that there was a need for us to review our policies to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the overall management and direction of this industry,” she said.

Estimates of the number of lions in Zambia’s national parks have ranged from about 2,500 to more than 4,600.

“Zambia has a number of national parks and game management areas, which in the past two or three decades have been leased out to a number of operators, safari operators, who have been managing these areas. And recently government did advertise 19 game management areas for safari hunting. Unfortunately, the process was marred⁷ with corruption,” she said.

The hunting ban covers those 19 areas where leases were just about to be put out to bid. There are other areas where hunting continues because the leases have not expired. Masebo says hunting is also permitted on private game ranches⁸ that have valid⁹ permits and are fenced in.

“As a new government, we undertake to ensure that this industry would take into account the participation¹⁰ of the ordinary citizens in these areas where these hunting safari operators are operating. We’ve seen as a government that our communities have not been benefitting. And therefore we felt it was necessary also to look at issues of conservation as opposed to just making money.” She said.

The tourism minister said Zambian law requires local communities be consulted about hunting operations. This is done, she says, through community resource boards.

“We need to ensure that the people that come from these areas must benefit. The government itself must benefit. The animals themselves must be protected. Unfortunately, the kind of money that we have raised as a country cannot be compared to this loss of the animals. And so between protecting the animals and losing the money we chose to lose the money for now,” she said.

Masebo said that breaking from the past is not easy. Without naming names, she says the hunting industry has been controlled by – what she described as – big cartels.

Gavin Robinson is chairman of the Professional Hunters Association of Zambia. Its members are employed by registered safari companies that negotiate leases with the government. He reacted to the minister’s decision.

“She suspended the awarding and the contractual process for the tender documents because they had been brought to her attention – flawed manners and matters within the tender process and that. And she took action as she saw fit as the honorable minister of tourism and that’s what led us to this current debate now over these 19 areas,” she said.

Robinson said after several meetings on the matter a decision was made.

“Due to the late nature of the year and marketing¹¹ issues and everything like that, there would be one year of no hunting in those 19 areas,” he said.

As for the tourism minister’s concerns about low numbers of lions in Zambia, Robinson said, “As professional hunters, we can comment on this last 10 year lease period. We feel the quota¹² numbers were sufficient. And for the last 10 years we have successfully harvested our lion here in Zambia. And we have always looked after the remaining lion to ensure that we have lion for the following year. We as professional hunters are very involved conservation.”

As for leopards, he said that most agree their numbers have never been an issue of concern. He says hunters are given a yearly quota on leopards – a quota he added they never reach.

Robinson said that the hunting ban in 19 areas means fewer jobs for professional hunters in Zambia this year.

1 leopards   

n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移

参考例句：

• Lions, tigers and leopards are all cats. 狮、虎和豹都是猫科动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For example, airlines never ship leopards and canaries on the same flight. 例如，飞机上从来不会同时运送豹和金丝雀。 来自英语晨读30分（初三）

2 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。

3 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

7 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

8 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

9 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

10 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

12 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。