Zimbabwean Officials Train Children to Coexist with Dangerous Wildlife

In Zimbabwe, increased wildlife activity near people has put children in rural areas at greater risk of animal attacks while walking to school.Officials and some parIn Zimbabwe, increased wildlife activity near people has put children in rural areas at greater risk of animal attacks while walking to school.
在津巴布韦，野生动物活动的增加使农村地区的孩子们在上学途中面临更大的动物袭击风险。

Officials and some parents hope a campaign to teach children how to identify danger could reduce risks.
官员和一些家长希望通过一项教孩子识别危险的活动来降低风险。

No deaths have been reported, but student Esther Bote and her friends remain careful.
目前没有报告死亡事件，但学生埃丝特·博特和她的朋友们仍然非常小心。

“We usually walk in groups to feel safer,” said the fourteen-year-old. The five-kilometer walk to school includes travel through thick forest.
“我们通常结伴而行，这样感觉更安全，”这位十四岁的孩子说道。上学的五公里路程包括穿越茂密的森林。

Savé Valley Conservancy, a private group, and Zimbabwe's parks agency run the program for school-age children. It teaches them how to recognize danger signs and how to coexist with wildlife.
由私营团体萨维谷保护区和津巴布韦公园局为学龄儿童开展该计划，教他们如何识别危险信号以及如何与野生动物共存。

Many students, like Esther, are now able to identify the footprints of animals and the sounds they make. They also know how to read the direction of the wind and when and where to seek shelter.
像埃丝特这样的许多学生现在能够识别动物的足迹和它们发出的声音。他们还知道如何判断风向以及何时何地寻求庇护。

Dingani Masuku of Savé Valley Conservancy said wildlife affects children more than other people. He said children walk to school and often do household jobs like getting water and firewood. Such activity means they are outside often.
萨维谷保护区的丁加尼·马苏库表示，野生动物对儿童的影响比其他人更大。他说孩子们步行上学，通常还要做一些如取水和捡柴等家务。这类活动意味着他们经常在户外。

Masaku said, “That's why we are targeting schools so that they can know how animals behave, what to do with the animals.”
马苏库说：“这就是为什么我们要针对学校进行教育，让孩子们了解动物的行为以及如何应对动物。”

He added that the campaign is trying to teach children “a sense of ownership,” so they “don't see the animal as an adversary, but they see it as something beneficial to the community, something which should be respected.”
他补充说，这项活动旨在教孩子们“所有权意识”，让他们“不把动物视为对手，而是看到它对社区有益，是应该受到尊重的事物。”

Education efforts
教育努力

Recently at Chiyambiro Secondary School, a young woman was teaching children about the dangers of wild animals. The 18-year-old recently left school to become part of a group of young woman rangers.
最近在奇亚姆比罗中学，一位年轻女性正在教孩子们关于野生动物的危险。这位18岁的女孩最近辍学，成为了一支年轻女性护林员小组的一员。

“Don't approach an animal. If it's a lion, it's looking for food. That's why it's in the community. It is looking for cheap, easy prey, and you could be the easy prey.”
“不要靠近动物。如果它是一只狮子，它是在寻找食物。这就是它为什么会出现在社区中。它在寻找便宜且容易捕捉的猎物，而你可能就是那个容易捕捉的猎物。”

Some of the children said they travel up to 15 kilometers to get to school. They said they have to start walking to school before the sun rises when animals such as hyenas are still awake and active.
一些孩子表示，他们需要走15公里才能到达学校。他们说，他们必须在太阳升起前开始步行上学，那时像鬣狗这样的动物仍然醒着并且很活跃。

An official from the national parks agency spoke to the children about why wildlife is important to the community. He said wildlife supports the country's tourism industry and leads to job creation, such as the new ranger positions.
国家公园局的一名官员向孩子们讲述了为什么野生动物对社区很重要。他说，野生动物支持着国家的旅游业，并带来了就业机会，比如新的护林员职位。

Alphonce Chimangaisu is the chair of the school development committee at the Chiyambiro Secondary School. He said parents hope the information campaign will make children safer.
阿尔丰斯·奇曼盖苏是奇亚姆比罗中学学校发展委员会的主席。他说家长们希望这项信息宣传活动能让孩子们更安全。

“Some parents have stopped their children from going to school because they don't know what might happen,” he said.
他说：“有些家长已经阻止他们的孩子上学，因为他们不知道可能会发生什么。”

School officials in affected rural areas often must delay the start of the day's classes and end them early. The president of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Obert Masaraure, said school officials are trying to let children walk to and from school during daylight hours. That is when wild animals are less likely to be around.
受影响农村地区的学校官员通常必须推迟当天课程的开始时间并提前结束课程。津巴布韦农村教师联合会主席奥伯特·马萨劳雷表示，学校官员正试图让孩子们在白天上学和放学。那时野生动物出现的可能性较小。

“We have reports of learners who have completely withdrawn from school fearing for their lives,” Masaraure said. He also noted that teachers who live far from schools are increasingly missing work. He said all these problems are making it more difficult for rural learners to get a “quality education.”
“我们收到报告称，有学生因为担心生命安全而完全退出了学校，”马萨劳雷说。他还指出，住在学校较远的老师也越来越多地缺席工作。他说，所有这些问题使农村学生获得“优质教育”变得更加困难。

Tinashe Farawo is a Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority official. He said wild animals are going into communities for food and water because of dry weather conditions, also called drought. The official said the parks agency is pushing for animal behavior and conservation training at schools around the country.
蒂纳谢·法拉沃是津巴布韦国家公园与野生动物管理局的一名官员。他说，由于干旱天气条件，也就是所谓的干旱，野生动物正在进入社区寻找食物和水。这位官员表示，公园局正在推动全国各地学校的动物行为和保护培训。

Farawo also said children teach their parents what they have learned. He said the agency has established environmental clubs at many schools to bring attention to the issue.
法拉沃还表示，孩子们会教他们的父母所学到的知识。他说，该机构在许多学校成立了环保俱乐部，以引起对这个问题的关注。

The official noted that conflicts had gotten worse because of drought. He said the parks agency had received between 3,000 and 4,000 emergency calls from communities battling wildlife in three years. In 2018, there were only 900 calls.
这位官员指出，由于干旱，冲突变得更加严重。他说，在三年内，公园局收到了3000到4000个来自与野生动物作斗争的社区的紧急呼救电话。而在2018年，这样的呼救电话仅有900个。