OMG驯鹿没有了，谁来拉雪橇

care for the caribou

A remnant herd of caribou in eastern Canada faces a grave threat from a surprising source: backcountry skiers.

加拿大东部存留的驯鹿群正面临着威胁，而源头令人意想不到：边远地区的滑雪者。

The endangered woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) live atop the snowy mountains of Gaspésie National Park, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in southern Quebec province in Canada.

这种濒危的丛林驯鹿（塞尔扣克北美驯鹿）住在加佩斯国家公园的雪山之上，该公园谓语加拿大魁北克省北部圣劳伦斯河口附近。

A very very old street

老街印象

Over the past 30 years, this population has shrunk by 63%—to just about 70 animals—as a result of increased predation by coyotes and black bears, as well as competition for food with growing numbers of moose and deer.

在过去的三十年间，种群数量缩减了63%—现存仅70只—一方面因为被丛林狼和黑熊捕食，同时也因为要跟越来越多的驼鹿和普通鹿种竞争食物。

Hikers and skiers are allowed on most of the mountains in Gaspésie National Park.

加佩斯国家公园大部分雪山都允许徒步和滑雪。

But the resident caribou appear unwilling to share their slopes with tourists: The presence of just six skiers at the summit was enough to send the animals scurrying down to lower elevations, where they face a far greater risk of predation by coyotes, researchers report in the current issue of Biological Conservation.

据研究员发表在《生物保育》最新一期上的报道，这里居住的驯鹿好像不愿意与游客共享雪山：山上仅仅出现六个滑雪者就足以让这种动物像更低海拔处跑去，在那里它们被丛林狼捕食的风险大大增加。

Ecologists outfitted 43 of the caribou with GPS collars and tracked their movements for 2 years, finding that they can spend up to 5 days on lower slopes after getting spooked by skiers.

生态学家们给43只驯鹿装上了GPS项圈，然后追踪了两年它们的行动后，发现它们在被滑雪者惊吓后可以在低处山坡上停留5天之久。

Although tourist use of the park is already limited, the authors are urging park managers to impose additional restrictions on high-altitude skiing and hiking.

尽管公园内的游览区域已经受限，作者仍强烈呼吁公园的管理者们添加附加条款禁止在高海拔进行滑雪和远足。

Without stronger measures, the team predicts that the herd could vanish within 2 decades.

如果不采取严格有效的措施，这种科研团队预计驯鹿将在二十年之内灭绝。