美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Bark Ranger' Helps Lick Dangerous Wildlife Encounters In National Park

'Bark Ranger¹' Helps Lick Dangerous Wildlife Encounters In National Park 

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Encounters between visitors and wild animals in national parks can go very wrong. Sometimes it's the visitors who approach the animals. But just as often, it's the animals that approach the visitors. Rangers³ in Montana's Glacier⁴ National Park have been trying something new this summer - canine⁵ bark rangers. Nicky Ouellet of Montana Public Radio reports.

NICKY OUELLET, BYLINE⁶: Meet Gracie.

GRACIE: (Barking).

OUELLET: Gracie's been training with Ally Cowan...

ALLY COWAN: There, good girl.

OUELLET: ...At the Wind River Bear Institute. Today, they're trying to herd⁷ five sheep into a wooden corral in a grassy⁸ valley a few hours south of Glacier National Park.

COWAN: Getting a border collie to drive, basically stay behind and push forward, is a little bit tougher. For Gracie, we are working against that instinct a little bit because for a wild sheep or goat, we don't want her bringing them closer to people. We want her pushing them away.

OUELLET: The 2-year-old border collie with icy blue eyes is part of a pilot program funded by the Glacier National Park Conservancy. It's Gracie's job to train wildlife to stay away from popular areas in the park and teach park visitors about safely viewing wildlife.

MARK BIEL: We did see a lot of, you know, crazy stuff up there, people getting way too close...

OUELLET: Mark Biel is Gracie's handler and a park ranger.

BIEL: ...Trying to take pictures or surrounding a goat, you know, with the kid on the outside, running around crying, trying to get to mom. But, you know, there's 15 people around, mom taking a picture and, you know, that's kind of unacceptable.

OUELLET: Mountain goats especially have taken to congregating⁹ at a parking lot at Logan Pass - the most remote and highest point you can reach in the park by car - to lick up sweet-tasting antifreeze and eat the salty snacks tourists leave behind. Biel says that's a problem for the animals and for people.

BIEL: Some people don't necessarily make the connection that they're still wild animals. They see them in such close proximity¹⁰ that they assume they're tame.

DENNIS MADSEN: This is a natural behavior that just reinforces their natural instinct to behave as a prey¹¹ species and show respect to the predators¹².

OUELLET: Dennis Madsen works in Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. His park started using collies in 2009 around aggressive deer protecting their newborn fawns¹³.

MADSEN: Like, for everybody involved, the deer and the dogs, it only took a day or two for everyone to figure out what their role was. And after the first week, the deer really came to understand that that was the new reality in the town site.

OUELLET: Within a few years, hostile encounters between deer and people in Waterton fell from 40 each season to just four.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMEN: Hi, Gracie.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Hi, sweetheart.

OUELLET: On a foggy morning at Logan Pass, park interns¹⁴ Aleta Forkum and Marisa Morrison treat Gracie like part of the team as she and Ranger Mike Biel make their rounds of the parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Any action this morning for you guys when you got up here?

BIEL: Yeah, there's seven rams¹⁵ in the parking lot.

OUELLET: They stop often to pose for selfies with visitors.

BIEL: She has her own Instagram account.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Oh, really?

BIEL: Absolutely - @barkrangernps.

OUELLET: Gracie's popularity helps Biel connect with visitors to talk about a range of safety issues, not just encounters with wildlife.

BIEL: 'Cause no one wants to talk to me. But if they see her, they'll come up and pet her, and then I got you.

OUELLET: Biel says Gracie's doing a good job. Goats and sheep move away farther and stay away longer than they do when Biel uses other hazing¹⁶ methods, like firing empty shotgun shells or waving bags. He and Gracie only visit the parking lot once or twice a week so wildlife doesn't get used to her.

BIEL: To us, she's a, you know, pretty little border collie, but to them, she's a fuzzy little wolf-like thing.

OUELLET: Based on Gracie's success this summer, Biel hopes to expand the program next season. For NPR News, I'm Nicky Ouellet in Glacier National Park.

1 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

5 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

8 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

9 congregating   

（使）集合，聚集( congregate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The spatial distribution patterns of larvae and pupae are congregating distribution. 幼虫和蛹的空间分布均为聚集分布。
• He says victims of violence are congregating there because they feel safer. 他说暴力的受害者聚集在这里因为他们觉得更安全。

10 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

11 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

12 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 fawns   

n.（未满一岁的）幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 )；浅黄褐色；乞怜者；奉承者v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 )；巴结；讨好

参考例句：

• He fawns on anyone in an influential position. 他向一切身居要职的人谄媚。 来自辞典例句
• The way Michael fawns on the boss makes heave. 迈克讨好老板的样子真叫我恶心。 来自互联网

14 interns   

n.住院实习医生( intern的名词复数 )v.拘留，关押( intern的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Our interns also greet our guests when they arrive in our studios. 我们的实习生也会在嘉宾抵达演播室的时候向他们致以问候。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• The interns work alongside experienced civil engineers and receive training in the different work sectors. 实习生陪同有经验的国内工程师工作，接受不同工作部门的相关培训。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

15 rams   

n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• A couple of rams are butting at each other. 两只羊正在用角互相抵触。 来自辞典例句
• More than anything the rams helped to break what should have been on interminable marriage. 那些牡羊比任何东西都更严重地加速了他们那本该天长地久的婚姻的破裂。 来自辞典例句

16 hazing   

n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件）

参考例句：

• With labor, the hazing period ends. 费了好大力气，痛苦的时期终于过了。 来自互联网
• A high-gloss paint surface is one that directly reflects light with minimum hazing or diffusion. 高度光洁的漆表面可以直接反射光源。 来自互联网