[ti:African Wildlife Harder to Protect During Coronavirus]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]A drop in tourism during the coronavirus crisis is making it more difficult
[00:07.92]for some organizations to protect threatened wildlife in Africa.
[00:16.28]Wildlife officials fear poaching activity will rise
[00:22.16]because the collapse of the travel industry leaves less money for guarding animals.
[00:30.40]In Kenya, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy project is home to more than 130 black rhinos.
[00:41.28]It forms the single largest group of the animals in East and Central Africa.
[00:49.56]"We are more alert because maybe more poachers
[00:54.00]will use this time to come in to poach," said John Tekeles.
[01:01.80]He is a guard at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
[01:06.72]His comments were reported by The Associated Press (AP).
[01:12.28]African rhinos have long been under threat from poachers who kill them for their horns.
[01:21.68]The illegal trade is fueled by the belief, in some cultures,
[01:27.04]that the horns have medicinal value which has not been proven by science.
[01:35.56]The number of black rhinos in Africa has been slowly increasing.
[01:42.72]But a report in March by the International Union for Conservation of Nature,
[01:49.80]IUCN, said it still considered the animals "critically endangered."
[01:58.48]In part, the organization credits the comeback of the rhinos to effective law enforcement.
[02:07.64]However, Ol Pejeta's director, Richard Vigne, said enforcement measures are very costly.
[02:17.40]He said he spends about $10,000 each year for every rhino to pay for the protection.
[02:26.84]"In our case, that comes to close to $2 million a year," Vigne told the AP.
[02:36.00]"In the time of COVID, when tourism has completely stopped,
[02:41.08]where most of our revenue comes from tourism...it's a complete disaster."
[02:48.60]COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
[02:55.04]The conservancy expects to lose $3 to $4 million this year.
[03:02.56]Vigne said the loss severely limits the group's ability to protect the rhinos.
[03:10.72]Wildlife activists across Africa are now waiting to see
[03:16.36]how poachers will react to the current situation,
[03:20.48]and whether more rare wildlife will be killed.
[03:26.52]Poaching of African rhinos had been decreasing in recent years, the IUCN reported.
[03:36.68]The group said there were 892 acts of poaching in 2018,
[03:44.28]down from a high of 1,349 in 2015.
[03:52.12]The IUCN said the population of black rhinos
[03:56.96]grew at a yearly rate of 2.5 percent between 2012 and 2018.
[04:06.08]Now, there are more than 5,600 animals.
[04:12.00]That growth was predicted to continue over the next five years, the environmental group said.
[04:21.20]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM