為了保護瀕臨滅絕的犀牛，美國退伍軍人響應(yīng)新的武裝號召

為了保護瀕臨滅絕的犀牛，美國退伍軍人響應(yīng)新的武裝號召

Former soldiers are battling poachers and their own personal demons in South Africa.

在南非，退役士兵正在與偷獵者和他們自己的魔鬼作戰(zhàn)。

Photo: Lance van de Vyver/Shutterstock

Ryan Tate, a former U.S. Marine, founded a nonprofit group called Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW). The organization puts ex-soldiers to work protecting rhinos, something that meets several important needs at once: guarding an endangered species against poachers by people skillfully trained in combat, and giving soldiers a personal weapon against two significant problems many face after military service: unemployment and post-traumatic stress disorder.

美國前海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊員瑞安·塔特成立了一個名為“退伍軍人授權(quán)保護非洲野生動物”，簡稱VETPAW)的非營利組織。該組織讓退役士兵從事保護犀牛的工作，這同時滿足了幾個重要的需求:由訓(xùn)練有素的戰(zhàn)斗人員保護瀕危物種，防止偷獵者;為士兵提供個人武器，以應(yīng)對許多人在服役后面臨的兩個重大問題:失業(yè)和創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙。

“Everyone gets PTSD when they come back from war ... you are never going to get the brotherhood, the intensity again … [There are] all these veterans with billions of dollars of training and the government doesn’t use them. I saw a need in two places and just put them together,” Tate tells the Guardian.

“每個人從戰(zhàn)場回來后都會患上創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙……他說:“你永遠也不會再有那種手足之情，那種緊張感了……所有這些老兵都接受過數(shù)十億美元的訓(xùn)練，而政府卻不利用他們。”我在兩個地方看到了需求，就把它們放在一起，”塔特告訴《衛(wèi)報》。

Rhinos are still being poached at an alarming rate, even though the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) international ban on rhino horn is in full effect.

盡管《瀕危野生動植物種國際貿(mào)易公約》(CITES)對犀牛角的國際禁令已經(jīng)全面生效，但犀牛仍在以驚人的速度遭到偷獵。

"The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission's African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) recently reported that the number of African rhinos killed by poachers had increased for the sixth year in a row, with at least 1,338 rhinos killed by poachers across Africa in 2015," notes AllAfrica. This is the highest level since the rhino poaching crisis began to increase in 2008. Since then, poachers have killed more than 7,900 rhinos in South Africa alone.

“國際自然保護聯(lián)盟(IUCN)物種生存委員會的非洲犀牛專家小組(AfRSG)最近報告稱，被偷獵者殺害的非洲犀牛數(shù)量連續(xù)第六年上升，2015年非洲各地至少有1338頭犀牛被偷獵者殺害，”AllAfrica指出。這是自2008年犀牛偷獵危機開始加劇以來的最高水平。從那時起，偷獵者僅在南非就殺死了7900多頭犀牛。

Wild rhinos can use any help they can get, including help from ex-military soldiers looking to do some good in the world and regain a sense of purpose and place in the process.

野生犀?？梢岳萌魏嗡麄兡艿玫降膸椭?，包括來自退役軍人的幫助，他們希望在世界上做一些好事，并在這個過程中重新獲得一種使命感和地位。