非洲500多隻珍稀禿鷹暴斃，只因啄食被毒死的大象屍體

500 vultures die in Botswana after eating poisoned elephants

在波札那，500隻禿鷹因食用有毒大象而死亡

來源：法新社 翻譯：世界播

More than 500 endangered vultures died of poisoning after eating the carcasses of three elephants killed by poachers in Botswana, the government said in a statement.

政府在一份聲明中說，在波札那，超過500隻瀕危禿鷲在吃了被偷獵者殺死的三隻大象的屍體後中毒死亡。

A total of 537 vultures, along with two tawny eagles, were found dead at the site in the north of the African country.

共有537隻禿鷲和兩隻茶色雕在這個非洲國家北部被發現死亡。

The Botswanan wildlife and national parks department did not say when the dead vultures had been found or why the three elephants were laced with poison after being killed.

波札那野生動物和國家公園管理局沒有說明禿鷹的屍體是什麼時候被發現的，也沒有說明為什麼這三隻大象在被殺後被注射了毒藥。

But poachers are known to poison carcasses to target vultures as the birds circle in the sky and help rangers to track poaching activity.

但是，當禿鷹在空中盤旋並幫助護林員追蹤偷獵活動時，偷獵者會在動物屍體上下毒，以此來鎖定禿鷹。

Most of the birds, 468 of them, were white-backed vultures, which are classified as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species.

這些鳥類中有468隻是白背禿鷹，它們被國際自然保護聯盟列為瀕危物種紅色名單上的極度瀕危物種。

Also among the dead were 17 white-headed vultures and 28 hooded vultures -- also critically endangered.

死亡鳥類中還包括17隻白頭禿鷹和28隻冠禿鷹，它們也處於極度瀕危狀態。

"The poisoning was believed to have been caused by lacing of three poached elephant carcasses with a poisonous chemical," the wildlife department said.

該野生動物部門表示：「中毒被認為是三具偷獵的大象屍體含一種有毒化學物質引起的。」

Teams decontaminated the area and samples were taken for laboratory analysis.

野生動物小組對該地區進行了消毒，並採集了樣本進行實驗室分析。

Conservationists last week warned of surging elephant poaching in parts of Botswana and estimated nearly 400 were killed for their ivory tusks in 2017 and 2018.

上周，環保人士警告稱，波札那部分地區的大象偷獵活動日益猖獗，估計2017年和2018年有近400頭大象因象牙被獵殺。

The country recently sparked controversy by lifting its ban on hunting, saying it would help control a booming elephant population that was damaging farmers" livelihoods.

該國最近解除了狩獵禁令，稱此舉將有助於控制大象數量的激增，因為大象數量的激增正在損害農民的生計，這一禁令的解除引發了爭議。

In 2016, two lions and over 100 vultures in South Africa"s Kruger National Park died after eating a poisoned elephant carcass.

2016年，南非克魯格國家公園的兩頭獅子和100多隻禿鷹因食用有毒的大象屍體而死亡。

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