澳大利亚加大考拉的保护力度

Australia Increases Efforts to Protect Koalas

Koalas are officially listed as at risk of disappearing in New South Wales, Australia. Now, the state’s government has $34-million plan to protect the beloved animals.

Koalas have large, hairy ears. They have especially sharp claws, which help them climb trees. They are marsupials, meaning they carry their babies in an opening of skin on the mother’s stomach. The animals are native to Australia, and are described in many Aboriginal² stories of creation.

Over the last 20 years, the koala population in New South Wales has fallen by 25 percent. About 36,000 koalas remain. The animals’ numbers have fallen in other parts of Australia, too.

As part of its plan, the government of New South Wales is setting aside nearly 25,000 hectares of forest where koalas will be able to breed freely.

It will also add more signs to help car drivers avoid koalas that walk into roadways. And, the state will build specially¹ made bridges so that koalas and other wildlife can cross roads while avoiding cars and trucks.

Koalas face several threats, including loss of habitat due to land-clearing, dog attacks and heatwaves. A sexually transmitted disease – chlamydia – is also harming koalas’ health.

Gabrielle Upton is the environment minister of New South Wales. She told VOA about her state’s plan to set up a group of wildlife hospitals to treat injured and sick koalas. She also said researchers are testing a vaccine³ that would protect the koalas against chlamydia.

A new koala hospital will open in Port Stephens, north of Sydney. It will join an already existing hospital in the New South Wales town of Port Macquarie, which began treating injured marsupials in the 1970s.

Conservationists have welcomed the idea of opening a second hospital. However, they argue that the government's multi-million dollar plan does not deal with the number-one threat to koalas: land-clearing.

Koala live in trees. They are herbivores, and need forest environments to survive.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

claw – n. a sharp curved part on the toe of an animal

Aboriginal – n. native people of Australia

habitat – n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

breed – v. to produce young animals, birds, etc. : to produce offspring by sexual reproduction

transmit – v. to cause (a virus, disease, etc.) to be given to others

herbivore - n. an animal that only eats plants

 

1 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

2 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。