VOA慢速英语2013 To Protect Rhinos, Anti-Poaching Business Grows in South Africa

 

To Protect Rhinos², Anti-Poaching Business Grows in South Africa

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.

Some private game farmers in South Africa are hiring armed protection for their rhinos. New security companies are being started to fight an increase in rhinoceros³ poaching.

Poachers are now well-armed and well-financed. A single horn sells for than $65,000 per kilogram -- more valuable than gold. Rhino¹ horns are sold mostly in Vietnam and China, on the false belief that they can cure all kinds of problems.

Simon Rood started a security company in South Africa five years ago, when rhino poaching started to increase. Today, his 35 rangers⁴ supervise an area of 150,000 hectares in Limpopo province.

Simon Rood was a soldier in the South African army, and gives military training to his rangers. He says they have never lost a rhino to poaching. This, he says, is because his rangers patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and live and sleep in the bush.

"24/7, they've got to live in the bush, 24/7 the guys patrolling. Obviously the guys are moving around. You've only got so many people on the ground. but you've got area coverage⁵. They're moving from area to area."

Callie Botha manages a lodge⁶ that had six rhinos. Recently he found one dead, with its horns cut off. He owned the rhino for 12 years.

"I fed it every day. He was part of the family."

Replacing a rhino costs about $28,000. But Callie Botha says armed protection also costs a lot, and he worries about his own safety. So he may stop breeding rhinos.

"The risk is too high."

But others are willing to pay. Stephen Leonard owns an eco-lodge for nature travelers. He started using the security service after an incident at the beginning of the year.

"In end of January, we had an instance where people came inside the property and they tracked down rhinos."

He did not lose any rhinos but decided⁷ to increase security.

"The poachers are heavily armed, and we are not, so we'd rather get people that are armed to come and do the anti-poaching for us."

Karen Trendler works at South Africa's only rhino orphanage⁸. She says increasing security is important. But, like Simon Rood, she thinks there should be a law to establish rules for training.

"If the security companies are not well-trained, there is always the risk of corruption⁹."

She says a long-term solution will come through education and law enforcement. She says Yemen is an example of a country that has stopped buying rhino horn.

"The rhino horn was used for ceremonial daggers¹⁰. And there was a huge demand for rhino horn. And through a very, very well coordinated¹¹ and aggressive awareness¹² project, linked with good law enforcement, that demand has been reduced completely."

Poaching of endangered animals in Africa is growing. You can find a series of stories about poaching at voanews.com. And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I'm Karen Leggett.

1 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。

2 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

3 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。

4 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

9 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。

10 daggers   

匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I will speak daggers to her, but use none. 我要用利剑一样的话刺痛她的心，但绝不是真用利剑。
• The world lives at daggers drawn in a cold war. 世界在冷战中剑拨弩张。

11 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。