Can Zoos Survive the Economic Crisis?
It's hard to feed an elephant—let alone a herd—when you've just lost $15 million. Just ask the Wildlife Conservation Society, the organization that runs New York City's zoos and aquarium。
In order to avoid cutting back on feed and other necessities, the Society has had to cut $10 million from its payroll. So the animals won’t starve, but there'll be fewer people to care for them, or study them。
And this is a critical time for animal study。
Diseases that jump from wildlife to humans, such as Ebola or bird flu, are on the rise and may worsen as the climate changes。
The last wild places are disappearing, but new species are discovered, such as the rock rat in Laos. As are unexpected abundances, like the 6,000 Irawaddy dolphins recently found in Bangladesh。
And the Society has also been charged with maintaining some of those last wild places, such as the 680,000 acres in Chile's Tierra del Fuego islands gifted to the organization as "forever wild."
Some may argue that zoos are archaic while others call them arks for endangered species, but there are few alternatives for the animals. And zoos remain one of the few places left where urban children get to experience the call of the wild。
动物园能度过经济危机吗？
在经济危机中损失了1500万美元之后，要饲养一头大象就会有些困难---更别说是饲养一群大象了。如果不信，你可以问问“国际野生动物保护学会”(Wildlife Conservation Society)，这个组织负责运营纽约市的动物园和水族馆。
为了避免削减喂养动物的饲料以及其它必需品，该协会不得不从它的工资总支出中砍掉1000万美元，这样动物们就不至于挨饿了，但是这也会导致照看动物的工作人员会减少，或者研究动物的人员减少。
而目前的动物研究也处于一个关键时刻。
从野生动物传到人类的一些疾病，比如埃博拉或者禽流感，有上升的势头，而且随着气候的变暖，这些疾病可能还会变得更严重。
地球上最后的野生区域正在消失，不过人们也发现了新的物种，比如在老挝发现的岩鼠。最近在孟加拉国发现了6000多短吻海豚，数量之多，令人意想不到。
另外，国际野生动物保护学会也负责维护世界上一些最后的野生区域，比如占地68万英亩的智利Tierra del Fuego岛就以“永久的野生区域”赠给了该协会。
有些人或许会称动物园过时了，而另外有些人称动物园是濒危动物的“诺亚方舟”，但是对动物们来说，可供它们选择的余地几乎没有了。动物园仍然是城市里的孩子们体验“野性的呼唤”为数不多的地方之一。
