We've been looking at different types of conflicts that may arise between wildlife and humans at the boundaries of protected areas such as national parks and animal sanctuaries.

我们一直在研究野生动物和人类在国家公园和动物保护区等保护区域边界可能发生的不同类型的冲突。

I'd like to illustrate this by telling you about some research that I've been involved in recently in the central African country of Zambia in the area around the Chembe Bird Sanctuary, which contains over three hundred of the listed birds of Zambia.

为了说明这一点，我想告诉你我最近在非洲中部国家赞比亚进行的一些研究，这些研究位于钦贝鸟类保护区周边地区，该保护区包含了赞比亚列出的 300 多种鸟类。

These include a number of birds of prey, such as eagles, hawks and owls, that live by hunting and killing other birds and animals.

其中包括一些捕食性鸟类，如鹰、隼和猫头鹰，它们以猎杀其他鸟类和动物为生。

Now, most of the people living in the local communities near to the bird sanctuary are small-scale farmers, and these birds of prey provide important social and ecological benefits to them.

如今，生活在鸟类保护区附近当地社区的大多数人都是小规模农民，这些猛禽为他们提供了重要的社会和生态利益。

For example, a lot of damage can be caused to farmers' crops by rodents such as rats, which would consume the crops as they grow in the fields as well as after harvesting if they weren't hunted and killed by the birds.

例如，老鼠等啮齿类动物可能会对农民的作物造成很大的破坏。如果这些动物没有被鸟类捕杀，它们就会在作物生长期间和收割后吃掉它们。

And the predatory habits of these birds also protect farmers in other ways.

这些鸟类的捕食习性也在其他方面保护了农民。

For example, a major danger to rural workers is snakes, whose bite may be dangerous or even fatal, and birds of prey have a major role in keeping their populations under control.

例如，对农村工人来说，蛇是一种主要危险，蛇的咬伤可能是危险的，甚至是致命的，而猛禽在控制其数量方面发挥着重要作用。

Local people have always been aware of these benefits and for years, even before the sanctuary was opened in 1973, the birds played a key role in the culture of the region.

当地人一直意识到这些好处，多年来，甚至在 1973 年保护区开放之前，这些鸟类就在该地区的文化中发挥着关键作用。

However, more recently, the sanctuary and its birds have also become increasingly important to the community in economic terms, because at present, after a relatively slow start, tourism has become an important source of revenue for them.

然而，近年来，这个保护区及其鸟类在经济方面对社区的重要性也越来越大，因为目前，在经历了相对缓慢的起步之后，旅游业已经成为它们重要的收入来源。

However, although these birds of prey are protected by the government, their numbers are falling.

然而，尽管这些猛禽受到政府的保护，但它们的数量正在下降。

Some of these deaths are accidental. Fatalities occur when birds alight on roads to catch and eat their prey, and are hit by fast-moving traffic.

其中一些死亡是意外事故。死亡事件发生在鸟类降落在道路上捕食猎物时，以及被快速行驶的车辆撞击时。

Drivers in Zambia have to take special care at night, as birds may regard the quieter roads as safe places to sleep.

赞比亚的司机在夜间必须特别小心，因为鸟类可能会将更安静的道路视为安全的栖息地。

Accidental deaths may also occur if these birds fly close to high-voltage power lines, as they may be electrocuted.

如果这些鸟类飞近高压电线，也可能发生意外死亡，因为它们可能会触电身亡。

This is a particular danger in the heavy rain which can occur in the region in the months from December to April.

这是该地区在 12 月至 4 月期间可能发生的大雨中的一种特殊危险。

And local farmers also pose a threat to these birds.

当地农民也对这些鸟类构成威胁。

As well as growing crops, small-scale farmers in the area also rear chickens.

除了种植农作物，该地区的小规模农民还养鸡。

These provide food for the farmers' families, as well as being an important source of income.

这些鸟类为农民家庭提供食物，同时也是重要的收入来源。

But they're also an easy target for birds of prey, and so farmers may shoot these birds, which is illegal but understandable, or they may poison the birds, which again is illegal and can have negative effects on the ecosystem.

但它们也是猛禽的容易猎杀目标，因此农民可能会射杀这些鸟类，这虽然违法，但可以理解。或者他们可能会毒杀这些鸟类，这同样是非法的，可能会对生态系统产生负面影响。

So how else can farmers protect their chickens from birds of prey?

那么，农民还能如何保护他们的鸡免受猛禽的攻击呢？

Some people believe that to prevent the predators from settling near the area where the chickens are kept it's best to keep this area free from vegetation.

一些人认为，为了防止捕食者在养鸡区域附近定居，最好保持该区域不受植被影响。

But in fact this is counter-productive as it means the chickens have no cover to hide in and they'll be easier for the birds to see.

但事实上，这种做法适得其反，因为这意味着鸡没有遮蔽物可以躲藏，而且它们更容易被鸟类发现。

Another possibility would be to prevent the chickens from going outside at all, and to keep them safe from predators inside a building, but this would cost far too much to be a practical solution.

另一种可能性是完全禁止鸡外出，并保护它们免受建筑物内捕食者的伤害，但这将花费太多，无法成为一个切实可行的解决方案。

Nearly all the farmers reported that they spent a lot of time and effort trying to frighten off the birds of prey without actually harming them.

几乎所有农民都报告说，他们花费了大量时间和精力试图在不真正伤害猎物的情况下吓跑它们。

Most of the farmers had at least one dog, and said this was a big help at scaring away the predators.

大多数农民至少养一条狗，他们说这对吓跑捕食者有很大帮助。

Some of the farmers also reported that during the breeding season, when the chickens were particularly vulnerable, they encouraged their children to watch over the chickens and to hit pans with a metal spoon so that the resulting noise would succeed in driving away birds that were trying to seize the young chicks.

一些农民还报告说，在繁殖季节，当小鸡特别脆弱时，他们鼓励孩子们照看小鸡，并用金属勺子敲打平底锅，这样产生的噪音就能成功驱赶那些试图抓住小鸡的鸟类。

None of these methods was a hundred per cent effective, so as a result, the village people told us that rather than just using one method, they were forced to use a combination for them to have any effect.

这些方法都不是百分之百有效的，因此，村民告诉我们，他们不是只使用一种方法，而是被迫使用多种方法组合才能产生效果。

And even so, these birds of prey remain a major threat to the chickens' survival and cause considerable economic loss to farmers.

尽管如此，这些捕食性鸟类仍然是鸡生存的主要威胁，并给农民造成了相当大的经济损失。

So we looked at the possibility of a longer-term solution to ...

因此，我们开始考虑找到一个长期解决方案的可能性......