科学美国人60秒:Cut Road Deaths with Mountain Lions

Are you afraid of sharks? What about snakes or spiders? Put those fears aside: because in the U.S. you’re far more likely to be killed or injured by a deer bounding across the road.
你害怕鲨鱼吗?那么蛇和蜘蛛呢?先把这些恐惧放到一边：因为在美国，你受伤或者丧命的原因可能是由于马路上乱跑的鹿。

Bambi and his kind cause more 200 humans deaths each year, plus some 29,000 injuries, all because of 1.2 million collisions between vehicles and deer. Most incidents occur in the eastern U.S., where deer thrive without natural predators like wolves and mountain lions.
鹿每年都会导致200多人丧命，此外，还有约2.9万人受伤，事件的原由就是机动车辆和小鹿发生了多次碰撞。大多数事故都发生在美国东部，由于没有狼、美洲狮等自然捕食者，这里的鹿的数量猛增。

"That's the region in the U.S. where deer-vehicle collisions are such a problem, and where it seems like an effective large carnivore restoration could make a really big difference."
在美国该地区，小鹿和机动车发生的碰撞事件是个难题，似乎大型肉食动物的存在可以导致巨大的差别。

University of Washington wildlife biologist Laura Prugh. She thinks it would help to reintroduce predators like mountain lions, also known as cougars, pumas or panthers, to parts of their historic range from which they've been driven out.
华盛顿大学的野生动物学家劳拉·鲁。她认为将之前被驱逐的美洲狮引入会有帮助。

Crunching the numbers, the researchers say that bringing the big cats back to the eastern U.S. would mean 22 percent fewer collisions between cars and deer over three decades. Each year would see five fewer human deaths, 680 fewer injuries and a savings of some $50 million.
好好计算一下数字，研究人员表示，将这种大型猫科动物引入美国东部，这意味着在未来30多年，鹿和车辆发生的碰撞事件将会减少22%.每年死亡人数将会减少5人，受伤人数将会减少680人，同时，节省5千万美元。

"Cougars have shown that they can coexist in close proximity with people, with very few conflicts, in a lot of areas out west."
研究表明，在西部地区，美洲狮可以与人类近距离共存，产生冲突的次数极少。

Still, some folks might be understandably nervous about this kind of plan. After all, reintroducing predators doesn't come without risks to pets and to livestock, and very occasionally to people.
但是，对于上述计划，很多人感到非常的不安。毕竟，重新引入捕食者会给宠物、牲畜甚至是人类带来威胁。

"Our fear of large carnivores is so primal and ingrained that I don't think it's possible to just completely override it with statistics…what I hope is that knowing that there actually can be some measurable benefits might make people a little more favorably inclined and maybe balance that fear a little bit."
我们对大型食肉动物的恐惧是非常原始、根深蒂固的，因为我认为，不能仅仅是依靠数据就完全将这种恐惧置之不理，我希望可以有明显的益处让人们赞同或平衡对此计划的抵触情绪。

Indeed, the statistics show that cougars would prevent five times as many human deaths from deer-related accidents as they would cause by attacks. But it’ll be a tough sell: the press will cover cougar attacks, but a statistically prevented death does not make the news. Nevertheless, “If people in Hollywood can put up with having mountain lions around, I would hope that New Yorkers would be up for the challenge as well."
实际上，数据表明与美洲狮造成的人员伤亡相比，引入美洲狮可以减少5倍与鹿相关的车祸事件伤亡人数。但是，这计划实行仍非常的艰难，新闻仍会报道美洲狮袭击事件，但是引入美洲狮可以避免人员伤亡的事件并未报道。但是，如果好莱坞的人们可以忍受美洲狮的存在，那么我希望纽约的人们也可以勇敢面对这个挑战。