VOA原文
A drop in tourism during the coronavirus crisis is making it more difficult for some organizations to protect threatened wildlife in Africa.
Wildlife officials fear poaching activity will rise because the collapse of the travel industry leaves less money for guarding animals.
In Kenya, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy project is home to more than 130 black rhinos.
It forms the single largest group of the animals in East and Central Africa.
"We are more alert because maybe more poachers will use this time to come in to poach," said John Tekeles.
He is a guard at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. His comments were reported by The Associated Press (AP).
African rhinos have long been under threat from poachers who kill them for their horns.
The illegal trade is fueled by the belief, in some cultures, that the horns have medicinal value which has not been proven by science.
The number of black rhinos in Africa has been slowly increasing.
But a report in March by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, said it still considered the animals "critically endangered."
In part, the organization credits the comeback of the rhinos to effective law enforcement.
However, Ol Pejeta's director, Richard Vigne, said enforcement measures are very costly.
He said he spends about $10,000 each year for every rhino to pay for the protection.
"In our case, that comes to close to $2 million a year," Vigne told the AP. "In the time of COVID, when tourism has completely stopped, where most of our revenue comes from tourism...it's acomplete disaster." COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The conservancy expects to lose $3 to $4 million this year. Vigne said the loss severely limits the group's ability to protect the rhinos.
Wildlife activists across Africa are now waiting to see how poachers will react to the current situation, and whether more rare wildlife will be killed.
Poaching of African rhinos had been decreasing in recent years, the IUCN reported.
The group said there were 892 acts of poaching in 2018, down from a high of 1,349 in 2015.
The IUCN said the population of black rhinos grew at a yearly rate of 2.5 percent between 2012 and 2018.
Now, there are more than 5,600 animals. That growth was predicted to continue over the next five years, the environmental group said.
满满de知识点
美 [poʊtʃ]
v. to catch and killanimals without permission on someone else's land
rhino
美 [ˈraɪnoʊ]
n. 犀牛
be fueled
这里的fuel是作v. 推动；煽动
medicinal value 药用价值
美 [ˌkɑːnsərˈveɪʃn]
n. 保存，保持；保护
参考译文
在冠状病毒危机期间，旅游业的下滑使一些组织更难保护非洲受到威胁的野生动物。
野生动物官员担心偷猎活动将会增加，因为旅游业的崩溃使得用于保护动物的钱减少了。
在肯尼亚，OlPejeta保护区是130多头黑犀牛的家园。它是非洲东部和中部最大的动物种群。
“我们更加警惕，因为可能会有更多的偷猎者利用这段时间来偷猎，”约翰·泰克莱斯说。他是OlPejeta保护区的一名警卫。美联社报道了他的言论。
长期以来，非洲犀牛一直受到偷猎者的威胁，偷猎者为了获取犀牛角而猎杀犀牛。在某些文化中，犀牛角的药用价值还没有得到科学的证明，这一信仰助长了犀牛角的非法贸易。
非洲黑犀牛的数量一直在缓慢增长。但国际自然保护联盟(IUCN)今年3月发布的一份报告称，它仍认为这些动物是“极度濒危”。在某种程度上，该组织将犀牛的回归归功于有效的执法。
然而，OIpejeta的负责人理查得维格勒（RichardVigne）表示，强制措施代价不菲，他每年为每头犀牛支付1万美元保护费用。
维格勒告诉美联社：“拿我们的情况举例，每年的费用接近200万美元。在新冠疫情中，旅游业完全停滞，而我们的收入绝大部分来自旅游业......这根本就是灾难”。新冠肺炎是冠状病毒引起的疾病。
该保护区今年将损失300到400万美元，维格勒指出，这些损失严重限制了该组织保护犀牛的能力。
如今，非洲各地的野生动物活动家都在观望有多少偷猎者利用当前形势采取行动，是否有更多的野生动物被猎杀。
国际自然保护联盟报告称，近年来，偷猎非洲犀牛的行为有所减少。该组织表示，2018年有892起偷猎活动，低于2015年的1349起。
国际自然保护联盟表示，2012到2018年间，非洲黑犀牛的数量以每年2.5%的速度增长，如今，这里有超过5600头黑犀牛。该环保组织说，预计未来5年这种增长仍会持续下去。
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