禁猎令解除

United States

Wolves 灰狼

Fair game now 禁猎令解除

Mar 27th 2008 | SHERIDAN, WYOMING

From The Economist print edition

A de-endangered species can now legally be hunted

一个脱离灭绝危险的物种又可以被合法狩猎了

ON MARCH 28th Ed Bangs will open the champagne. Mr Bangs is the government's chief wolf recovery co-ordinator, and on that day the grey wolf of the northern Rocky Mountains will lose its federal protection. The Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) says the population has reached sustainable levels. Mr Bangs has worked 20 years to see this moment.

3月28日，艾德·班斯要开香槟庆祝了。班斯先生是国家灰狼保护总负责人。当天北落基山狼的联邦保护令将被解除。美国渔猎局称，北落基山狼种群数已达到可自我维持繁衍的标准。而班斯先生，为了这一刻，辛勤工作了二十年。

Wolves were once found almost everywhere in the West, but settlers and ranchers made short work of them. The last one disappeared from the Yellowstone region in 1926. By 1973, when the Endangered Species Act became law, only a few wolves remained in northern Michigan and Minnesota.

灰狼原本是美国西部常见的动物，但殖民者和牧场主们快速的解决掉了他们。最后一只消失灰狼在1926年的黄石地区。截至1973年《濒危物种法》颁布之时，只有很少的灰狼存在于北密歇根和明尼苏达州。

After long and stormy debate, the federal government reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho in 1995. The greater Yellowstone area, encompassing parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, now has a population of 1,500 wolves. These three states will now each manage their own wolves. The USFWS will monitor their populations for the next five years. It has set a minimum of 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs, split equally among the three states.

在经历了长时激烈的辩论后，联邦政府于1995年将灰狼引入黄石地区和爱达荷州的部分地区。包含怀俄明州、爱达荷州和蒙大拿州各一部分的泛黄石地区，现有灰狼1500只。这三个州将各自管理分布在各州的灰狼。美国渔猎局将在五年内监控各州灰狼的种群数并平均地为每个州设置了最低100只灰狼和10对可繁育灰狼的底限。

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming plan to allow the animal to be hunted as trophy game. The delisting also allows ranchers to shoot wolves that prey on their stock or threaten pets. Conservation and animal-rights groups plan to sue, fearing that wolves will die in huge numbers. Mr Bangs thinks otherwise. “Those states have done a superb job of managing their deer, elk and bear. I expect they'll do the same for wolves. If they don't, we'll take it back.”

爱达荷、蒙大拿和怀俄明三州计划将灰狼列入狩猎比赛类猎物。被从保护名单中删去以后，灰狼也可在攻击家畜和宠物时由牧场主们猎杀。环保组织和动物权利主义者则欲提起公诉，他们担心灰狼将再次大量死亡。班斯先生则不这么想。“这些州在管理野鹿、麋鹿和野熊方面做的很好。我期待，他们也会那样管理灰狼。如果不的话，我们会再次接管的。”

The wolf has been a pain to some stockmen, but has hardly put ranchers out of business. The Defenders of Wildlife, a wolfish outfit, says coyotes kill 20 times more cattle than wolves do. It also says that wolves are responsible, in a typical year, for less than 2.5% of sheep deaths.

灰狼一直都是一些家畜养殖户的烦恼，但从没把牧场主们逼上绝路过。灰狼保护组织“野生动植物保护者”称，土狼能杀死比灰狼多20倍的家畜；而且，在一个典型年份（译者注：统计术语）内，灰狼导致的绵羊死亡只占总死亡数的2.5%还少。