双语新闻：哥伦比亚将试图控制100多只河马的数量

Colombia will try to control its population of more than 100 hippopotamuses, large animals from Africa.

哥伦比亚将试图控制其100多只河马的数量，河马是一种来自非洲的大型动物。

The South American country aims to control the big animals using several methods. Officials might sterilize the animals through a medical operation. They might move the hippos to other countries, or possibly euthanize them, the government said recently.

这个南美国家打算用几种方法来控制大型动物。官员们可能会通过医疗手术对这些动物进行消毒。政府最近表示，他们可能会把这些河马转移到其他国家，或者可能对它们实施安乐死。

The animals' ancestors were brought to the country by the late Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. Escobar was the leader of an illegal drug operation in Colombia.

这些动物的祖先在20世纪80年代由已故的巴勃罗·埃斯科瓦尔带到这个国家。埃斯科瓦尔是哥伦比亚非法毒品交易的头目。

The hippos have spread from Escobar's home to nearby rivers where they have reproduced. They have no natural predators in Colombia and the government has declared them as an invasive animal that could hurt the environment.

河马已经从埃斯科瓦尔的家扩散到附近的河流，并在那里繁殖。它们在哥伦比亚没有天敌，政府已经宣布它们是一种可能破坏环境的入侵动物。

Officials estimate there are 169 hippos in Colombia and that many of them are in the Magdalena River area. They estimate that if no measures are taken, there could be 1,000 by 2035.

官方估计，哥伦比亚有169头河马，其中许多生活在马格达莱纳河地区。他们估计，如果不采取措施，到2035年可能会有1000人死亡。

Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said the first step of the plan will be to sterilize 40 hippos each year and this will begin soon.

环境部长苏珊娜·穆罕默德说，该计划的第一步是每年为40头河马进行绝育手术，这项工作很快就会开始。

The method is costly. Each sterilization costs about $9,800. And there are risks for the hippos, including reactions to medicines or death, as well as risks to health officials, the ministry said. The hippos live across a large area. They are territorial and aggressive.

这种方法代价高昂。每次消毒费用约为9800美元。卫生部表示，对河马来说存在风险，包括对药物的反应或死亡，以及对卫生官员的风险。河马生活在一个很大的区域。它们有很强的领土意识和侵略性。

Experts say sterilization alone is not enough to control the growth of the invasive animals. The government announced in March that it is planning to possibly move the animals to other countries.

专家表示，仅靠绝育是不足以控制入侵动物的生长的。政府在3月份宣布，计划可能将这些动物转移到其他国家。

Muhamad said Colombian officials have contacted officials in Mexico, India, and the Philippines, and they are considering a plan to send 60 hippos to India.

穆罕默德说，哥伦比亚官员已经联系了墨西哥、印度和菲律宾的官员，他们正在考虑向印度运送60头河马的计划。

"We are working on the protocol for the export of the animals," she said. "We are not going to export a single animal if there is no authorization from the environmental authority of the other country."

“我们正在制定动物出口的协议，”她说。“如果没有对方国家环境部门的批准，我们不会出口任何动物。”

As a last means to control the population, the ministry is creating a protocol to euthanize the animals.

作为控制数量的最后手段，该部正在制定一项对动物实施安乐死的协议。

A group of hippos was brought in the 1980s to Hacienda Nápoles. The place was Escobar's private zoo. Now it receives many visitors after his death in 1993. Most of the animals live freely in rivers there and reproduce without control.

20世纪80年代，一群河马被带到Hacienda Nápoles。这个地方是埃斯科瓦尔的私人动物园。1993年他去世后，现在这里接待了许多游客。大多数动物在那里的河里自由生活，不受控制地繁殖。

The people of the nearby Puerto Triunfo have become used to hippos sometimes walking freely around the town.

附近的特里恩福港的人们已经习惯了河马有时在镇上自由行走。

However, scientists warn that the hippos' waste pollutes the rivers and could affect the environment where other large animals, like manatees and capybaras, live.

然而，科学家警告说，河马的排泄物会污染河流，并可能影响其他大型动物(如海牛和水豚)的生存环境。