美国国家公共电台 NPR To Decrease Bird Kills, Cat Lovers Team Up With Bird Lovers In D.C. Cat Count

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Herding¹ cats - difficult. So how about counting cats? Researchers in Washington, D.C., have just begun work on a three-year, $1.5 million cat census² to get a definitive³ count of how many cats there are in the city. But why do we even need a cat count? Jacob Fenston from member station WAMU has the answer.

JUSTIN BELSLEY: Hundred meters.

JACOB FENSTON, BYLINE⁴: Justin Belsley is checking his GPS, navigating⁵ a densely⁶ forested part of Rock Creek⁷ Park right in the middle of Washington, D.C.

BELSLEY: It is southwest, so I guess we should take this trail.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK.

FENSTON: Belsley is a field technician working on the D.C. Cat Count. He and Mike Cove⁸ are tracking outdoor cats - strays, ferals and pets - using the same methods scientists use to study much larger animals.

MIKE COVE: Tiger researchers have been doing this for two decades.

FENSTON: Setting up wildlife cameras, taking thousands of photos and using the photos to identify individual animals based on their markings.

COVE: We're doing the same thing. We're just working with much smaller tigers.

FENSTON: Cove and Belsley come from very different backgrounds, even opposing camps. Cove is a wildlife biologist who studied the negative impact feral cats can have on wildlife. And Belsley...

BELSLEY: I have fed a colony of feral cats myself for about three years now, and I just love cats.

FENSTON: For decades, there's been a passionate⁹, often overheated debate amongst humans who love animals. It pits cat lovers, who want to help feral cats survive in the wild, against bird lovers, who say cats are causing bird populations to plummet¹⁰. Dan Herrera is also working on the cat count.

DAN HERRERA: This project has kind of stoked the fire a little bit. It's, like, people who proclaim to be team cat and team bird.

FENSTON: It's not just the field techs who come from opposing teams. So do the organizations behind the project - the Humane¹¹ Rescue Alliance - team cat - and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute - team bird. For now, though...

HERRERA: We are team science.

FENSTON: It's a sort of truce¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD SQUAWKING)

FENSTON: To understand why the cat-bird debate is so heated, I head out on a bird walk with the DC Audubon Society.

DANA MCCOSKEY: So we have one of the first birds today - blue jay.

FENSTON: Dana McCoskey is one of the walk leaders. At one point between bird sightings, conversation turns to the threats facing native and migratory¹³ birds.

MCCOSKEY: A lot of people are only now understanding that their beloved cat (laughter) can be a...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Killer¹⁴.

MCCOSKEY: ...Cold-blooded killer. Yeah, and so...

FENSTON: McCoskey cites a 2013 study that found cats kill as many as 4 billion birds a year in the contiguous United States. But nobody knows how many cats are doing the killing¹⁵.

BILL MCSHEA: Are there 1,000 cats out there, 10,000, 100,000?

FENSTON: The Smithsonian's Bill McShea, one of the lead researchers working on the cat count. For the past decade, D.C. has been neutering feral cats, then releasing them back into the city. The idea is that, over time, this population of sterilized¹⁶ cats will dwindle¹⁷ and disappear. Another reason we need a cat count - to see if that's actually happening.

COVE: Where do we cross?

HERRERA: So the bridge is that way.

COVE: Oh, it is that way.

FENSTON: Back in Rock Creek Park, the field technicians are heading to their next camera location.

HERRERA: I'm always really quick to show these off.

FENSTON: Dan Herrera pulls out his cellphone.

HERRERA: This is my little best-of collection - adorable, little fox there.

FENSTON: That's awesome¹⁸.

COVE: Red fox.

HERRERA: There's a coyote. Yeah, a red fox.

FENSTON: In just a few weeks since they've started, they've gotten more than 40,000 images - foxes, coyotes, people walking dogs - but so far, only one cat photo - black and white, a large, well-fed feline¹⁹ slinking through the woods. It's way too early to draw any conclusions. Maybe the growing coyote population is keeping cats out of the wilder parts of the city, thereby²⁰ protecting native birds. Or maybe D.C. cats are just extra-stealthy. For NPR News, I'm Jacob Fenston.

1 herding   

中畜群

参考例句：

• The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
• They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

8 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

9 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

10 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

11 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

12 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

13 migratory   

n.候鸟，迁移

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。

14 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

15 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。

16 sterilized   

v.消毒( sterilize的过去式和过去分词 )；使无菌；使失去生育能力；使绝育

参考例句：

• My wife was sterilized after the birth of her fourth child. 我妻子生完第4个孩子后做了绝育手术。 来自辞典例句
• All surgical instruments must be sterilized before use. 所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。 来自辞典例句

17 dwindle   

v.逐渐变小（或减少）

参考例句：

• The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 4,000 to a few hundred.工厂雇员总数已经从4,000多人减少到几百人。
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority.他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。

18 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

19 feline   

adj.猫科的

参考例句：

• As a result,humans have learned to respect feline independence.结果是人们已经学会尊重猫的独立性。
• The awakening was almost feline in its stealthiness.这种醒觉，简直和猫的脚步一样地轻悄。

20 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。