是什么讓老虎吃人？

The way that we live on Earth is causing an unprecedented acceleration in species extinction. Now, more than half a million species “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct unless their natural environments are restored. But we are already seeing major problems from this intrusion, not least through an increase in human-animal conflict.

人類在地球的生活方式正加速物種滅絕?，F(xiàn)在，50多萬物種因沒有足夠的棲息地而面臨生存困難，除非它們的自然環(huán)境得到恢復(fù)，否則很可能滅絕。隨著動(dòng)物生存領(lǐng)地的縮減，動(dòng)物入侵問題已日益凸顯，人類與動(dòng)物之間的沖突也明顯增加。

A case in evidence is that of Avni, a “man-eating” Indian tigress who achieved something close to global recognition at the end of 2018. Man-eating leopards, lions, and tigers aren’t uncommon in India—several are killed or captured annually. But Avni achieved fame when a designer cologne was used in an attempt to lure her into a trap. Sadly, the bait failed and she was ultimately hunted down and killed.

以Avni——那只“吃人”的印度母老虎為例。吃人的豹子、獅子和老虎在印度其實(shí)并不罕見，每年都有幾只被捕殺或捕獲。但是Avni比較出名，誘捕者準(zhǔn)備用古龍香水引誘她，結(jié)果沒有成功，最后Avni被獵殺。這也使Avni在2018年底火遍全球。

This tragic tale of a tigress gone rogue unleashed a range of debates on the ethics of hunting, the pragmatics of capture, and the elitism of urban conservationists who were furious at her killing. What was somewhat missing from the discussion was the question of what made Avni the tigress into a man-eater in the first place.

這個(gè)虎妞出逃的悲慘故事引發(fā)了一系列關(guān)于狩獵倫理、捕獲的實(shí)用主義以及城市環(huán)保精英主義的爭(zhēng)論，他們對(duì)虎妞的死感到憤怒。討論遺漏了一個(gè)問題，那就是是什么把Avni變成了一個(gè)吃人的動(dòng)物。

The reasons why big cats turn on humans are complex and can be specific to individuals. But they can no longer be explained outside the context of climate change. Biodiversity depletion, habitat loss, extreme weather events, and a greater struggle over natural resources are affecting how animals live across the entire Indian subcontinent, and indeed the world. We should look to the case of Avni not for the peculiar baiting method, but rather for what her life and death tells us about the climate crisis.

大型貓科動(dòng)物攻擊人類的原因很復(fù)雜，而且可能因人而異。但它們?cè)僖矡o法在氣候變化的背景之外得到解釋。生物多樣性的喪失、棲息地的喪失、極端天氣事件以及對(duì)自然資源的爭(zhēng)奪，正在影響著整個(gè)印度次大陸乃至整個(gè)世界的動(dòng)物生活方式。人類應(yīng)該關(guān)注Avni的案例，不是因?yàn)槭裁垂琵埾闼?，而是她的生與死告訴了我們什么。

Human land and tiger land

人類的領(lǐng)地和老虎的領(lǐng)地

Commonsensically, we assume a distinction between “human land” and “animal land”, or spaces that are human-dominated and those that are reserved for animals. There are, of course, landscapes that are more amenable to the habitation of big cats. Leopards are temperamentally comfortable in scrub forests, for example, and tigers were thought to prefer dense forests. But this distinction between spaces is becoming increasingly artificial, especially in densely populated countries like India.

從常識(shí)上講，我們認(rèn)為“人類的領(lǐng)地”和“動(dòng)物的領(lǐng)地”是區(qū)分開的，即人類占主導(dǎo)地位的空間和為動(dòng)物保留的空間。當(dāng)然，有些地區(qū)更適合大型貓科動(dòng)物居住。例如，豹子在灌木叢中性情溫和，而老虎更喜歡茂密的森林。但這種空間的分界正變得越來越人為，尤其是在像印度這樣人口稠密的國(guó)家。

We are now finding increasing evidence of tigers and leopards in human dominated landscapes all over India. Avni was, it is widely agreed, not born in a tiger reserve. She was born in what is called a non-tiger zone or, sometimes, human-land. But she was described as venturing onto human land—farms, village outskirts, even the villages themselves—and preying on humans and their livestock. There is an incredulity to such appearances, which are described as the tiger or leopard “straying”, “escaping”, or “intruding”.

越來越多的證據(jù)表明，在印度，老虎和豹子生活以人類為主的地區(qū)。人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，Avni并非出生在老虎區(qū)。她出生在所謂的“非老虎區(qū)”，也就是“人類的領(lǐng)地”。但她被描述為冒險(xiǎn)進(jìn)入人類的農(nóng)田，村莊郊區(qū)，甚至進(jìn)入村子——吃人和牲畜。這種被描述為老虎或豹子“迷路”、“逃跑”或“入侵”的現(xiàn)象令人難以置信。

But the fact of the matter is that sightings of big cats in urban backyards are no longer aberrations in India, and they are only set to grow. As urban areas expand out, afforestation continues apace, and with some minor successes in tiger and leopard conservation, humans will need to be prepared to more openly share land with big cats.

但事實(shí)是，在印度，在主城邊緣看到大型貓科動(dòng)物不再反常，而且只會(huì)越來越多。隨著城市面積的擴(kuò)大，植樹造林繼續(xù)迅速進(jìn)行，在老虎和豹子的保護(hù)方面也取得了一些小小的成功，人類將做好準(zhǔn)備更公開地與大型貓科動(dòng)物生活在同一片土地。