袋鼠數量突破4500萬 澳洲呼籲民衆多吃袋鼠肉

Australians have been encouraged to eat more kangaroo meat as a way of controlling the population, which is nearing 50 million.
澳洲呼籲民衆多吃袋鼠肉，以控制袋鼠數量。如今澳洲袋鼠的數量已將近5000萬隻。

Government figures from 2016 show there were almost 45 million kangaroos, nearly double the human population of Australia.
2016年的政府數據顯示，現在澳洲有約4500萬隻袋鼠，是澳洲人口的近兩倍。

In 2010, there were around 27 million, with the huge rise in numbers considered to be due to environmental factors, with high rainfall resulting in more food for the kangaroos.
2010年，澳洲有約2700萬隻袋鼠。袋鼠數量大增被認爲是環境因素導致的，豐富的降水給袋鼠們帶來了更多的食物。

Experts are now encouraging Australians to hunt the marsupials in order to reduce their numbers.
專家現在鼓勵澳洲人捕獵袋鼠來降低袋鼠數量。

Associate Professor David Paton, from the University of Adelaide, said Australians needed to embrace kangaroo meat to avoid wasting their carcasses once they are culled.
阿德萊德大學的副教授戴維•帕頓說，澳洲人需要吃更多袋鼠肉，避免袋鼠被殺死後肉被浪費掉。

He told ABC News: "If we're going to cull these animals we do it humanely, but we also perhaps should think about what we might use the animals that are killed for."
他告訴澳大利亞廣播公司新聞節目說：“如果我們要捕殺袋鼠，我們會採用人道的方式，但或許我們也該想想被殺掉的袋鼠可以做什麼用。”

He added: “We shouldn’t just simply leave them out in paddocks to rot or leave them in the reserves to rot.”
他補充說：“我們不應該只是把袋鼠屍體留在圍場或保護區裏爛掉。”

Professor Paton went on to warn a large kangaroo population could pose a threat to biodiversity.
帕頓教授還警告說，數量龐大的袋鼠會對生物多樣性構成威脅。

“It’s not the kangaroos’ fault they’re overabundant, it’s probably we’ve just been too reluctant to take a stick to them, remove them out of the system sooner, to actually prevent the damage being caused," he said.
他說：“袋鼠數量過多並不是袋鼠的錯，很可能只是我們懶得去制約它們，沒有早點把過多的袋鼠從生態系統中除去來預防損害。”