Australia, home to the world's largest camel herd 澳大利亚，世界最大的骆驼之乡 作者：Sarah Bell @ 2013-5-19

译者：沈沉(@你在何地-sxy)

校对：小册子（@昵称被抢的小册子）

来源：BBC News， http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22522695 Australia is famous for its wildlife - kangaroos, koalas and numerous species of snakes and spiders - but it is also home to the world's largest herd of camels. There are about 750,000 roaming wild in the outback and they cause a host of problems.

澳大利亚因野生动物而闻名遐迩：袋鼠、考拉以及种类众多的蛇类与蜘蛛。不过，澳大利亚还是世界最大的骆驼之乡。约有75万匹只骆驼生活在澳大利亚的广袤内陆【 译注：本文outback一词专指澳大利亚人烟稀少的广袤内陆地区，后文皆译作“内陆” 】，并制造了很多麻烦。

Camels were imported to Australia in the 19th century from Arabia, India and Afghanistan for transport and heavy work in the outback. But when the internal combustion engine came along and they were no longer needed, several thousand were released into the wild.

骆驼是19世纪从阿拉伯、印度和阿富汗进口到澳大利亚的，在内陆用于运输和重体力工作。不过随着内燃机的出现，它们就派不上用场了，当中有几千匹被放生到野外。

With no natural predators and vast sparsely-populated areas in which to roam, the camels have flourished and are having a huge impact on the wilderness.

骆驼在内陆没有天敌，活动范围又是广阔的人口稀疏地区，因而得以大量繁衍，如今正对野生环境造成巨大影响。

"One of the biggest problems is that they drink large amounts of water. They gulp down gallons at a time and cause millions of pounds worth of damage to farms and waterholes which are used to water stock. They also drink dry waterholes belonging to the Aborigines," says explorer and writer Simon Reeve.

“其中一个大问题是，它们饮水量巨大。骆驼一次能灌下好几加仑的水，给农场和储水塘造成的数百万磅损失。它们还能把澳洲土著民的储水塘给喝干。”探险家、作家Simon Reeve如是说。

"Camels are almost uniquely brilliant at surviving the conditions in the outback. Introducing them was short-term genius and long-term disaster."

“论到在内陆环境中生存，骆驼的出色能力无与伦比。把它们引入内陆，短期来看是天才之举，长期来看则是灾难。”

Lyndee Severin runs a one-million-acre ranch west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory that has been overrun by the camels.

北领地【 译注：又称澳北区 】的骆驼现已泛滥成灾，Lyndee Severin就在该区爱丽丝泉市的西部经营着一个百万英亩的大牧场。

"They do a lot of damage to infrastructure for us, so there's a lot of damage to fences. They break tanks, they break pumps, they break pipes, they break fences - fences have been our biggest concern," she says.

她说：“它们对我们的基础设施造成了巨大破坏，围栏大量受损。它们把蓄水池搞坏，把抽水泵搞坏，把管子搞坏，把围栏搞坏。我们最担心的就是围栏。”

But her concern is not confined to her own business - the camels put pressure on native Australian species by reducing food sources and destroying their habitats. "They will just take everything in the landscape and if they destroy the trees and eat the grasses there's no kangaroos, no emus, no small birds if there's no trees, no reptiles," she says.

但她所担忧的不只是自己的生意。骆驼给澳大利亚本土的生物物种带来了巨大压力，因为它们减少了食物供应，破坏了本土物种的栖息地。她说：“它们会吃地上的一切东西。如果它们把树都毁掉，草都吃掉，就不会再有袋鼠，不会再有鸸鹋，不会再有小鸟，没有树，也不会再有爬行动物。”

Severin and her team shoot the beasts, often from helicopters, and leave them to rot where they fall. "It's not something that we enjoy doing, but it's something that we have to do."

Severin及其团队会射杀这些野兽，一般是从直升机上射杀，并让其就地腐烂。“我们并不喜欢做这种事，但又必须做。”

Camels roam freely across an area of 3.3 million sq km (1.3 million sq miles) encompassing the states of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, as well as the Northern Territory. They are mainly Dromedaries, but some are Bactrian camels. Humans have introduced dozens of species into Australia - including wild horses, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, rabbits and foxes - and these have now become a major problem for the ecosystem.

骆驼在包括西澳、南澳、昆士兰及北领地在内的330万平方公里（合130万平方英里）范围内自由出没。它们主要是单峰驼，但也有一些双峰驼。人类已将数十个物种引入澳大利亚，包括野马、猪、羊、狗、猫、兔子和狐狸等，这些动物现在已为生态系统带来了一个严重的问题。

In 2010 the Australian government endorsed a control plan, the Australian Feral Camel Management Project, which aimed to reduce camel densities through culling and mustering the animals for sale. Between 2001 and 2008 it was estimated there were up to a million feral camels in the outback, but thousands were culled under the project.

2010年澳大利亚政府签署了一项名为“澳大利亚野生骆驼管理项目”的控制计划，意在通过选择性地捕杀并出售骆驼来减低骆驼的密度。2001至2008年间，内陆的野生骆驼数量估计多达100万，但该项目已宰杀其中数千匹。

Animals Australia, a pressure group, described this as a "bloodbath". For its part, RSPCA Australia says it would support a national approach to feral camel management, only if "the programmes are clearly explained and justified... and use the most humane methods available".

压力集团“动物澳洲”将该计划称为“大屠杀”。而澳大利亚“皇家防止虐待动物协会”（RSPCA）则说它愿意支持采取全国性的办法来控制野生骆驼，但要求“对规划进行清楚的解释和论证……并采用能够用到的最人道方法”。

But many farmers feel that they do not have much choice - and must do what they can with or without a national programme. The economic cost of grazing land loss and damage by feral camels has been estimated at 10m Australian dollars (£6.6m).

然而，许多农场主感到他们并没有什么选择余地，而且不管有没有全国性规划，他们都必须采取可行措施。据估计，野生骆驼导致牧场流失和破坏，其带来的经济损失已达1000万澳元（合660万英磅）。

"Killing them seems a tragic waste to many of us but the sheer logistics involved mean there is little choice. It is an issue I find more and more as I travel around the world. Humans introduce animals into fragile ecosystems. What do we do about it?" says Reeve, who is presenting a new series on Australia for BBC television.

Reeve说：“对我们许多人而言，杀害它们似乎是一种可悲的浪费，但单单其中所涉及的物流运输就意味着我们没多少别的选择。随着我在世界各地旅行，我越来越多地发现这种事。人类将动物引入脆弱的生态系统。我们该拿它怎么办？” Reeve现在正为BBC电视台一套新的澳洲系列节目担任主持。

"It's not enough for us to stand back and say I can't bear to see animals being killed. If we are going to make ourselves gods by meddling with an ecosystem then we have to take the responsibility to sort it out."

“置身事外，说自己不忍看到动物们被杀害，这并不够。既然我们把自己变成了干预生态系统的神，那我们就必须承担起责任、解决问题。”

Ian Conway, who runs the 1,800 sq km Kings Creek cattle ranch, also near Alice Springs, believes there is a better way of managing their numbers - rounding camels up and selling them for their meat.

Ian Conway也在爱丽丝泉市附近经营一家1800平米、名为Kings Creek的牧牛场。他相信有更好的方法来控制骆驼数量：围捕它们，出售骆驼肉。

Camels range over a vast area and can travel more than 40 miles in a day, so his team uses a helicopter to spot "mobs" of camels. They are then rounded up using heavily-modified off-road vehicles and put into a holding pen, before being sold to the Middle East.

骆驼的活动范围很广，且一天能走40英里，所以Conway的团队使用直升机去寻找骆驼“小队”。然后使用经大幅改装的越野车将它们围起来，关在畜栏里，最后卖到中东去。

Conway, who has been mustering animals for more than 40 years, says: "There's no difference to camel and beef, in fact to a lot of people who live on camel like we do, prefer it to beef." Some are also sold as riding camels, he adds.

Conway干围捕动物这一行已有40多年。他说：“骆驼肉和牛肉没啥区别，事实上好多跟我们一样以骆驼肉为食的人，觉得它比牛肉要好。”也有些骆驼是卖出去做骑乘用的，他补充说。

"The Saudis are always interested in them but they are looking for a specific camel. I've got a bloke who wants beauty camels at the moment. The bulls are no good. They like the cows because of their thin heads, but the cows have got to have their lips hanging, for what reason I don't know," says Conway.

“沙特人对骆驼总是特别感兴趣，不过他们对骆驼有特定要求。现在就有个家伙找我要漂亮的骆驼。公的不行。母骆驼脑袋瘦小，沙特人喜欢，不过得是嘴唇下垂的母骆驼，不知道为啥，”Conway说。

He thinks a round-up is more humane than the alternative. "They just shoot them and nothing is done with them. We don't know if they lay there for days. I'd like them to come into the yard like this and be sold as meat or riding camels," he says.

他认为围捕比其他处理方法更为人道。“他们就拿枪打，别的都不管。我们都不知道骆驼是不是会在那儿躺好几天。我还是愿意像这样把它们弄到畜栏里来，然后当做食用或骑用骆驼卖掉，”他说。

In many outback areas it is not cost-effective to round up and sell the camels. But Conway is convinced that with the right investment this could become a profitable way of protecting ranches and the environment.

在许多内陆地区，围捕并出售骆驼并不划算。但Conway坚信，只要投资得当，这种保护牧场和环境的办法将会有利可图。

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