|
══════════════════【立報】═══════════════════ |
| 教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導《2005-02-04》 |
| 本期內容 | |
| ◎ 肯亞人雖窮 也很想吃肉 | |
| ◎ 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
| 肯亞人雖窮 也很想吃肉 | |
| 策劃、編譯■成怡夏 | |
|
去非洲旅遊的人常常會驚訝的發現，野生動物園裡當地人與外國遊客一樣好奇地觀賞大象、獅子和長頸鹿。許多外國遊客以為，非洲人從小就看慣野生動物，實際上，由於非洲野生動物數量驟減，倖存下來的動物又都被轉移到自然保護區內，真正看過非洲野生動物的非洲人屈指可數。 前不久，肯亞教師基瑪尼帶學生到野生動物園，讓他們認識野生動物，孩子們為自己所見的欣喜不已。基瑪尼說：「親眼見見這些動物是每個孩子的夢想，非洲孩子也一樣。」目前非洲人普遍對野生動物缺乏了解，動物保護者對此深感憂心：「野生動物的未來很不樂觀，除非孩子們從小就學習如何保護他們。」 索馬里、蘇丹、剛果等國，野生動物成為戰火的犧牲品，許多仍然與動物毗鄰而居的非洲人，也不了解野生動物的重要性。許多人民仍舊認為大象和獅子是威脅他們生命的動物，而不是值得保護的動物。還有人乾脆把它們當成盤中飧。在剛果等國，非法的盜獵與野味交易正悄然興起。 景氣衝擊 非法販售野生肉類興盛 約瑟夫‧孟約非常憂心。在他靠近肯亞最大野生動物保留區──察沃國家公園（Tsavo National Park）的兩家屠宰店裡，每週的收入持續下滑。受到不景氣的衝擊，好幾家競爭者的店面都關閉了，而過去向孟約購買牛肉的老主顧也都不上門了。 這個現象可以簡單看成經濟問題，旱災讓牛肉存貨銳減，迫使肯亞的牛肉價格上漲，而超過半數的人口每天只能靠不到一塊錢的生活費過活，根本吃不起牛肉。 當然這也可以看成是另一個問題。在過去5年，環境保護份子發現，沿著獵物的蹤跡，有4萬8千9百個用金屬線製成的陷阱，交叉設置在這個以野生動物資源豐富著稱的國度。非法的狩獵品充斥氾濫在市場上，稱之為價格低廉的「野生肉類」（bush meat）。設置陷阱的盜獵者一度是為了象牙和犀牛角，然而這類交易極富爭議性，受到法律禁止，逐漸沒落。 然而問題的範圍還沒有被充分認識，環境保護者說，盜獵的行為足以危害非州的野生動物資源，就如1970年代和1980年代的大規模牲畜屠殺一般。 「肯亞人很窮，他們沒有錢買牛羊，但是每個人都想要吃肉。」孟約說，他穿著得體，是4個兒子的父親，在他位在肯亞首都奈洛比東南方220英哩索非亞的屠宰店內說：「人們現在吃從大地獲取的野生動物，不吃我店裡賣的肉了。」 肯亞境內72個少數民族總是獵殺野生動物作為食物，大部分是水牛、黑斑羚、瞪羚、長頸鹿，還有猴子。但是最近這些小規模的獵集，如雨後春筍到處都出現了。 私底下，反盜獵的肯亞野生動物服務的官員表示，每年有上百萬的動物死於人類設置的陷阱。其他的環境保護份子也同意這個數字的真確性。一磅的野生肉類賣40肯亞先令（美金50分），這個市場一年大約共有5百萬的產值。 「野生肉類已經從低階的生存活動，變成了大量的商業交易行為。」總部位在英國的國際環保團體「生來自由」基金會（Born Free Foundation）的成員溫妮‧吉汝表示：「這種貿易行為過去被認為是西非極具優勢的收益，但是愈來愈明顯的是，非法販售野生肉類在東非是個逐漸崛起的工業。目前東非提供城市居民、甚至是國際市場肉類，使許多科學家所相信的、對許多非洲國家野生動物產生的巨大威脅成真。」 電話線陷阱 回到察沃國家公園的邊境，以賽‧梅納暫停他早上的例行巡邏，他的目光停在兩叢荊棘灌木叢間的缺口。他往前移動，膝蓋蜷伏了下來，用一根樹枝勾住一個固定在矮樹枝上的、用電線圍成CD形狀的圓圈。這個陷阱是他的團隊成員在一個半小時之內發現的第8個陷阱，是用來捕捉地克小羚羊──一種有著寬寬的黑眼睛、和短短的黃褐色皮毛、高及人腿的羚羊。 這是種很簡單的套索，由偷竊來的電話線做成的，只要動物掙扎想要逃脫這個套索就會拴緊。整個肯亞地區有數以千計個類似的陷阱在等待著機會上門。梅納先生和他來自肯亞環保團體「大衛‧雪爾德克野生動物信託」的三組組員，只能在每日的巡邏中清除掉一小部份。 儘管如此，他們在去年發現了超過8千個陷阱，從捕捉小型動物如地克小羚羊，到捕高大長頸鹿的陷阱，各型各色應有盡有。「我們只能把我們看到的撿起來，大部分的陷阱我們也無能為力。」他一邊說，一邊把找到的陷阱繞在自己的手臂上，再度前往茂密的灌木叢。 提供者或是盜獵者？ 在肯亞野生動物服務和其他組織的眼中，摩西‧慕斯雅（化名）是個罪犯。如果在他每週跋涉到灌木叢回家的途中攔下他，會發現他的肩膀上懸掛著弓箭，且發現他的袋子裡裝滿了超過110磅的非法肉類，然而，他絕非特例。 慕斯雅稱自己為獵人。他說這些肉類，通常都是黑斑羚，是要給他的家人吃的──他的妻子維吉妮亞，和兩個就讀於小學分別為6歲和14歲的孩子。每一塊肉都是要用來交換麵粉和砂糖的。 「我過去是狩獵者寄宿處的廚子，但是1998年美國大使館的爆炸事件發生後，這裡沒有觀光客，我跟著也失業了。」慕斯雅表示。假如他被逮捕，他可能會面對10年的牢獄。肯亞野生動物服務去年逮捕了16個人，雖然沒有一個真正遭到審判。 「生來自由」基金會正在大力推動檢舉，促使法律通過對於盜獵者的「零容受」，阻止盜獵風氣。他們希望部署更多的反置陷阱小組，增加「大衛‧雪爾德克野生動物信託」的工作，同時也教育年輕肯亞人對於盜獵的後果更加敏感，特別是肯亞的生存之鑰──觀光產業的發展的損害。但是貧窮始終是這種非法貿易背後的真正驅使動力。 「我必須養家活口，還要負擔兒子的教育費，這樣他們才不會像我一樣為生活辛苦打拼。」他說：「我能做些什麼呢？我心裏並不喜歡自己殺害那些動物，我知道這樣做是違法的，但是我們很窮，我們沒有選擇。」（資料來源╱基督教科學箴言報） Small game, big problem as poaching grows in Kenya Environmentalists claim a million wild animals are snared annually for their meat, bringing 50 cents a pound. VOI, KENYA - Joseph Munyao is worried. Weekly earnings are falling steadily at the two butcher shops he owns near the edge of Tsavo National Park, Kenya's largest wildlife reserve. Competitors hit by the slump have closed down, and even Mr. Munyao's once-regular beef customers are staying away. It could be simple economics. Drought has cut cattle stocks, forcing up beef prices in this country where more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Or it could be something else. In the past five years, 48,900 wire snares have been found by conservationists along the game trails that crisscross this country famed for its abundant wildlife. Illegal hunting is flooding the market with inexpensive "bush meat." The poachers who set these traps were once after elephant and rhino ivory, but controversial trade bans have shut down those sales. While the scope of the problem is not fully known, conservationists say it could endanger Africa's wildlife as much the great herd massacres of the 1970s and 1980s. "Kenyans are poor. They do not have the money to buy beef and goat, but every man wants to eat meat," says Mr. Munyao, a smartly-dressed father of four sons, at his butcher shop in Sofia, 220 miles southeast of Kenya's capital, Nairobi. "Now they are eating wild animals from the land and not coming to my shops." A minority of Kenya's 72 tribes have always killed wild animals for food, mostly buffalo, impala, gazelle, giraffe, even monkey. But recently these small-scale culls have mushroomed. Privately, the antipoaching staff at the Kenya Wildlife Service say as many as 1 million animals are dying in the snares each year. Other conservationists the Monitor spoke with agree with that figure. With a pound of bush meat selling for up to 40 Kenyan shillings ($.50), the trade in Kenya alone is now worth around $5 million a year. "Bush meat hunting has evolved from a low-level subsistence activity to a huge commercial trade," says Winnie Kiiru from the Born Free Foundation, an international conservation group based Britain. "The trade was thought to be predominantly a West African issue, but it's becoming apparent that the illegal sale of bush meat is an emerging industry in East Africa. It is now supplying urban and even international markets, posing what some scientists believe to be the biggest threat facing wildlife populations in many African countries." Telephone-wire traps Back on the borders of Tsavo National Park, on a well-worn game trail linking the east and west halves of the reserve, Isaac Maina pauses on his morning patrol, his eyes fixed just ahead to a gap between two low thorn bushes. He moves closer, crouches to his knees, and uses a stick to hook a circle of wire the size of a CD from where it is fixed to a low branch. This snare, the eighth his team has found in less than 90 minutes, was set to catch a dik-dik, a foot-high antelope with wide black eyes and a short tawny pelt. It is a simple noose, fashioned from stolen telephone wire, which tightens each time the animal struggles to get free. There are thousands of these traps lying in wait across Kenya. Mr. Maina and his three teams from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a conservation group based in Kenya, can clear only a fraction on these daily patrols. Despite this, they have found more than 8,000 in the past year, designed for every animal from the miniature dik-dik to the towering giraffe. "We can only pick up the ones we see, and we could be missing a lot of them," he says, looping the snare around his arm and setting off again through the thick bush. Provider or poacher? In the eyes of the Kenya Wildlife Service and other organizations, Moses Musya (not his real name) is a criminal. Stop him heading home from one of his weekly treks into the bush, bow and arrow sling loose over his shoulder, you would typically find him laden with up to 110 lbs. of illegal meat. Mr. Musya calls himself a hunter. He says the meat, usually impala, is for his family, wife, Virginia, and their two sons ages 6 and 14, both in primary school. Any left over is bartered for flour or sugar. "I used to be a chef at a safari lodge, but then the bombings [in 1998, of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania] came, and there were no tourists, and I lost my job," Musya says through the smoky haze in his windowless mud-and-thatch hut in a village a mile from Tsavo's electric fence. If caught, he could face 10 years in jail. The Kenya Wildlife Service arrested 16 people last year, though none has yet gone to trial. The Born Free Foundation is pushing for a sharp increase in prosecutions to promote a "zero tolerance" message to deter future poachers. They want more antisnaring teams deployed, adding to the work of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and want to sensitize younger Kenyans to the residual effects of poaching, especially to Kenya's key tourist industry. But poverty remains the driving force behind the trade. "I have to feed my family and pay for my sons' education so they do not live like me," he says. "How else can I do this in this place? My heart does not like me to kill these animals, I know it is against the law, but we are poor, we have no choice." 維持野生肉類狩獵水平的希望 研究員希望，西非狩獵野生動物的數量能夠利用新的電腦模型控管，維持一定的水平 在西非，已有許些大猩猩和黑猩猩的族群被成批獵殺，然而無論是禁令與控制都無法真正有效遏制這種情況。來自倫敦動物學協會（Zoological Society of London，簡稱ZSL）的研究者建議，以增加野生肉類商人稅收，或是將狩獵目標由靈長類轉移到較小的齧齒目動物的作法，可以拯救這些猩猩遠離瀕臨絕種的邊緣。 ZSL的凱‧克林蕭表示：「對西方人來說，野生肉類的交易令人感到害怕，但是當地的狩獵者和食用者沒有選擇。所以，我們必須給他們其他的選擇。」 開發一種可以保護受威脅的物種、但又允許當地社會依循數世紀以來從動物身上獲得收入的傳統生存方式，並不是一件容易的事。這裡面必須考慮到許多複雜的因素，例如不同種族的人、所有不同的物種和廣大狩獵的地域。 因此，克林蕭和他的同事發明了一個結合這些因素的電腦模型，試驗哪一個選擇的幫助最大。這也意味著有限的資源可以利用這些策略集中管理。 然而其他的環境保護者，卻質疑這種電腦模擬是否能奏效。「想要在這片土地上管理任何事情都是一項挑戰，特別是當這種無法永續經營的收穫可以收取近利時。」紐澤西普林斯頓大學的教授彼得‧瓦爾許表示。 瓦爾許主持大部分最近對這個地區的大猩猩調查工作，他說許多物種因為狩獵的關係，都失去了平衡。非洲猿猴像是大猩猩、黑猩猩等，都因為繁殖過於緩慢，無法彌補狩獵造成的損害。 克林蕭表示，一種選擇是將狩獵目標轉移到較小的齧齒目動物，像是某種老鼠（cane rat），這種老鼠在西非是眾受歡迎的肉類，且繁殖力超強。根據電腦模擬，轉移肉食目標可以拯救那些邊頻絕種的動物，例如猿猴。 下一個步驟，則在於評估預測不同的管理策略，像是增加販賣靈長類的稅收，減輕狩獵販賣齧齒類動物的稅收，是否也會影響當地人的狩獵行為。 （資料來源╱www.newscientist.com） Hopes for sustainable bush meat hunting Sustainable ways of hunting bush meat in Western Africa could be developed with the help of a new computer model, researchers hope. Hunting has decimated some populations of gorillas and chimpanzees in West Africa, but bans or controls have not been enforceable. Now researchers from the Zoological Society of London are suggesting that that managing these practices - by taxing bush meat traders or by shifting focus of the hunt from primates to smaller rodents - could save the apes from the brink of extinction. "The bush meat trade can be . . . horrifying to western eyes, but the people hunting and eating don't have any other options," says the ZSL's Guy Cowlishaw. "We have to give them other options." Developing a regime that protects threatened species but still allows local communities to derive an income from the animals, as they have done for centuries, is not straightforward. Many complex factors must be taken into account, such as the different populations of people, all the different species and large swaths of terrain. So Cowlishaw and his colleagues created a computer model that combines these factors to test which options will help the most. This means limited resources can be focused on implementing these strategies. Quick profit However, other conservationists are sceptical how well these measures will work. "Managing anything in this region is a real challenge, particularly if there is a quick profit to be made from unsustainable harvesting," says Peter Walsh, at Princeton University in New Jersey. Walsh conducted the most recent survey of gorilla populations in the region. He says some species can never be sustainably hunted. African apes, such as gorillas, bonobos, and common chimpanzees, reproduce too slowly for their populations to recover from any hunting, he says. Cowlishaw says one option might be to focus hunting on species that can be sustainably hunted, such as the cane rat, a popular meal in West Africa and also a fast reproducer. According to the computer model, focusing hunting on these animals prevents population decreases in the apes Walsh is most concerned about. The next step will be to predict how different management strategies, such as increasing taxes on primates while decreasing taxes on rodents, will affect hunting practices. Focusing hunting away from primates could also reduce the transmission of deadly diseases. Both ebola and HIV are thought to have been spread to humans via infected blood during hunts for bush meat. Cowlishaw presented the new work at the British Association Festival of Science in Salford, near Manchester, on Monday. |
|
| （回目錄） | |
| 台灣立報徵文啟事 | |
|
本報誠徵閱讀經驗分享，歡迎教師、家長及學生分享經驗，題材包括如何推動學生閱讀、啟發學生閱讀興趣、學生閱讀心得或小書評，文長500～1500字皆可，投至fiveguys@ms19.hinet.net，凡經採用，敬奉薄酬。 |
|
| （回目錄） | |
|
參觀立報： |
http://www.lihpao.com |
|
寫信給小編 e-mail： |
fiveguys@ms19.hinet.net |
|
立報地址： |
台北縣新店市復興路43號一樓 |