Experts questioned the wisdom of using culls to contain swelling populations of African elephants , saying the science was dubious.
專家質疑，捕殺非洲象以控制日益膨脹的象群數量是否睿智，稱其科學依據很可疑。
South African authorities are keen to resume culling - a practice they halted over a decade ago in the face of public outrage - to cut growing elephant numbers in the country's flagship Kruger National Park.
南非當局迫不急待想重開捕殺大門─他們在10年前因引起眾怒才中止這種做法─以減緩該國最大的克魯格國家公園內的象群數目。
No decision has been made but government scientists say the animals, whose numbers are estimated to have almost doubled in a decade to close to 12,000, are now eating themselves and other animals out of house and home in the 2-million hectare park.
雖然尚未作出決定，但官方科學家表示，據估這些大象的數量在10年間幾乎成長了一倍，接近12,000頭，牠們正逐漸將自己和其他動物賴以為居的200萬頃國家公園吃個精光。
Culling is also being mooted as an option in other parks, which in South Africa are enclosed by fences, meaning the big animals only have limited space to breed and feed in.
其他公園也將捕殺列為選項之一，因為南非的公園四周皆有圍籬，意味大型動物可以繁衍及覓食的空間有限。
But experts at a workshop in Johannesburg said the science behind such reasoning was questionable and could even have an adverse impact on other species.
但專家在約翰尼斯堡一場研討會上，指出這種推論背後的科學依據不僅令人質疑，甚至可能對其他物種造成不良影響。
"It's not just elephants that affect vegetation and the abundance of plant species. Other herbivores such as giraffes and kudus eat the same things as elephants and will fill that niche if elephants are removed," said Bruce Page, a lecturer in ecology at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal.
南非夸祖魯那他大學生態學講師布魯斯．佩吉說：「不只有大象會影響植物生長或植物種類的豐富性。長頸鹿和大羚羊等其他草食動物與大象所吃的食物相同，如果剷除了大象，牠們將取而代之。」
Page also told Reuters that many African parks had been devoid of large animals before they were proclaimed because of overhunting and so the landscape was often in an "unnatural state" with too many trees.
佩吉向路透表示，因為過度狩獵，非洲許多公園在成立前，幾乎沒什麼龐大型動物，以致於地理景觀常常呈現樹木過多的「不自然狀態」。
Kruger officials contend that elephants are devastating woodlands - but many of these forested areas sprung up before the park was proclaimed over a century ago and it may now be reverting over the long term to its previous state. Reuters
克魯格園方辯稱大象破壞林地，但這些林木茂盛的區域，有不少在一世紀前公園成立之前就存在了，如今經過漫長時間得以逐步回復原貌。
cull：可用作名詞或動詞，作動詞有揀選、採摘、剔除之意。（例：The lawyer culled important facts from the mass of evidence. 律師從一大堆證據中選出重要事實。）
outrage：暴行、不法行為、凌辱、義憤。
flagship：旗艦、一群事物中最大最好或最重要者。
adverse：相反的、不利的、敵對的、不幸的。
