PBS高端访谈:肯尼亚在雄性白犀死后继续保护犀牛亚种（在线收听）

Hari Sreenivasan: It's been almost three weeks since the last male northern white rhino died at the animal conservancy in kenya, and now only two females of the subspecies remain. Scientists are looking into the possibility of saving the northern white rhino through in-vitro fertilization. In the meantime, Kenyan officials are stepping up actions to preserve the remaining rhino population within their borders. Newshour weekend's Zachary Green has more.

Zachary Green: This past thursday, Kenya's government expanded the rhino sanctuary in the country's Meru National Park, home to 104 black and southern white rhinos. The expansion nearly doubles the sanctuary's size, from 17 to 32 square miles. The Kenya wildlife service is also embarking on a two-week $600,000 project to tag and identify 22 rhinos living in the park. Officials and veterinarians are utilizing helicopters and dart guns to find and tranquilize the rhinos. Once sedated, the vets cut unique notches into the rhino's ears, so that they can be easily identified. Kenya wildlife services' lead vet, Francis Gakuya, says this is the most reliable way to monitor the animals in the park.

Francis Gakuya: Ear notches are permanent marks and you can be able to use them for the life of the animal, they are permanent. The horn transmitters which we usually put on animals have a shelf life, they usually take two to three years then the battery goes down. So after that, you are not able to track that animal, unless you immobilize it again and put another one, meaning then you have to keep on doing the same.

Zachary Green:Using these methods to monitor and track its small rhino population, Kenya hopes it can save these animals from poachers and, hopefully, from the same fate as their northern white cousins.

哈里·斯瑞尼瓦桑：最后一头雄性北非白犀在肯尼亚动物保护协会死亡，到今天已近三周，如今存活的只有两头雌性亚种。科学家们正在对通过体外受精挽救北白犀牛物种的可能性进行研究。与此同时，肯尼亚官员正在加紧行动，保护其境内的犀牛数量。Newshour周末记者圣扎迦利·格林为您带来更多内容。

圣扎迦利·格林：上周四，肯尼亚政府扩大了该国梅鲁国家公园内犀牛保护区的范围，这里是104头黑犀及南方白犀的家园。保护区面积几乎扩大为原有的两倍，从17平方英里增加到了32平方英里。肯尼亚野生动物服务中心也开始了一个为期两周斥资600,000美元的保护项目，对园区内22头犀牛进行标记和识别。官员和兽医正在利用直升机和麻药镖枪寻找及安抚犀牛。犀牛一旦被麻醉，兽医就在它的耳朵上刻上独特的凹槽，这样就可以很容易地识别他们。肯尼亚野生动物服务中心首席兽医，弗兰西斯·伽库亚说，采用这种方式来监控公园里的动物是最可靠的。

弗兰西斯·伽库亚：耳痕是永久性的记号，你可以用它们来保护动物的生命，它们是永久的。我们通常安装在动物们身上的角发射器有一个保质期，通常两三年后电池就损耗了。所以之后，你就不能再跟踪那只动物，除非你再次找到它，换个新的，这就意味着，你必须重复做同样的事情。

圣扎迦利·格林：利用这些方法监测和追踪小犀牛种群数量，肯尼亚希望它能把这些动物从偷猎者手中拯救出来，希望它们不要遭受和北非白犀表亲相同的厄运。