【四级】加拿大一乡镇因北极熊备受欢迎

Churchill, Manitoba is a small, rural Canadian town that lives with neighboring predators and loves it.

曼尼托巴省的丘吉尔是加拿大的一个乡村小镇，人们与附近的食肉动物生活在一起，并且很喜欢这种状态。

That is because the predators - a polar bear population - attract the visitors who saved the town's economy after a military base there closed.

因为这些食肉动物——北极熊——能吸引游客，在一个军事基地关闭后，这些动物拯救了该镇的经济。

Tourists wanting to see the bears bring millions of dollars into the local economy.

想看北极熊的游客给当地经济带来了数百万美元的收入。

However, the bears are entering the town more often in search of food.

然而，这些熊越来越频繁地进入城镇寻找食物。

Researchers say the sea ice where the bears normally hunt is shrinking.

研究人员表示，北极熊通常的捕猎场所海冰正在缩小。

Geoff York is with Polar Bears International, a nonprofit environmental group based in Manitoba.

杰夫·约克就职于北极熊国际组织（Polar Bears International），这是一家总部位于马尼托巴省的非营利环保组织。

York said: "You're seeing more bears because there are more bears on the land for longer periods of time to be seen" and they are willing to take more risks, getting closer to people.

约克说：“你会看到更多的北极熊，因为越来越多的熊会在陆地上停留更久，”，它们愿意冒更大的风险，更接近人类。

There are about 600 polar bears in this Western Hudson Bay population.

在西哈德逊湾大约有600只北极熊。

Environmentalists say that is about half what it was 40 years ago.

环保人士表示，这个数量大约是40年前的一半。

Humans in Churchill outnumber the bears although not by very many.

在丘吉尔，人类的数量超过了北极熊，虽然差距并不大。

It has been more than 10 years since a polar bear attacked anyone in Churchill.

10多年前，一只北极熊在丘吉尔镇袭击了人类。

But townspeople look out for each other and tourists with a warning system and guards. There is even a polar bear jail.

但是镇民们会用警报系统和警卫来看顾彼此和游客。甚至还建立了北极熊监狱。

Sergeant Ian Van Nest is a Manitoba province conservation officer.

伊恩·范·奈斯中士是马尼托巴省的一名自然保护官员。

He recently guarded the streets of Churchill in his truck. It was the beginning of polar bear season in Churchill.

他最近开着卡车在丘吉尔的街道上巡逻。这是丘吉尔北极熊季节的开始。

The vehicle is equipped with a rifle and a barred back seat to hold anyone he might have to arrest.

这辆车配备了一把步枪和一个带闩的后座，是给任何他可能要逮捕的人准备的。

Van Nest saw a crowd of people who were watching a bear.

范·奈斯看到一群人在看一头熊。

He looked around for trouble in the area and then quietly spoke to the group's leader.

他环顾四周，看是否有麻烦，然后悄悄地对该组织的领导人说了几句话。

"How are you today?" Van Nest asked. The group leader answered that they were all right and then asked if their gathering place is acceptable to Van Nest.

“今天怎么样？”范·奈斯问。领队回答说都挺好的，然后问范·奈斯他们的聚集观察地点怎么样。

"You're good," the officer answered. "You (have) got a lot of distance there," he added.

“挺好的，”警官回答。他补充说：“你们保持了足够的距离。”

So, the tour group continued to watch a polar bear on some nearby rocks.

于是，旅行团继续在附近的岩石上观察一只北极熊。

Visitors interested in seeing the polar bears saved Churchill from shrinking out of existence when a military base there closed in the 1970s.

20世纪70年代，当丘吉尔的一个军事基地关闭时，对北极熊感兴趣的游客拯救了丘吉尔，使其免于消亡。

The closure led to a drop in Churchill's population, from a few thousand residents to about 870.

军事基地的关闭导致丘吉尔的人口从几千人下降到870人左右。

A 2011 government study found that the average polar bear tourist spent about $5,000 per visit.

2011年的一项政府研究发现，来看北极熊的游客每次平均花费约5000美元。

The tourism adds more than $7 million yearly to the economy of the little town.

旅游业每年给这个小镇的经济带来700多万美元的收入。

Churchill has a few nice restaurants and more than 25 places where visitors can stay.

丘吉尔有几家不错的餐厅和超过25个可供游客住宿的地方。

"We're…used to bears so (when you see one) you don't start to tremble," Mayor Mike Spence said.

市长迈克·斯宾塞说：“我们……已经习惯了北极熊，所以（你看到熊的时候）并不会吓得发抖。”

"It's their area too. It's important how the community coexists with bears and wildlife in general to really get along. We're all connected."

“这里也是它们的领地。重要的是，这个社区如何与熊和野生动物共存，达到和睦相处。我们都是紧密联系的。”

Churchill residents show polar bear pride in a way that mixes terror and fun.

丘吉尔的居民用一种既可怕又有趣的方式展示他们对北极熊的骄傲。

"You know we're the polar bear capital of the world, right? We have the product, it's just about getting out there to see the bears safely," said Dave Daley, who owns a gift shop, runs dog sleds and promotes the city.

“你知道我们是北极熊的世界之都，对吧？我们有这种产品，可以让你安全地观察北极熊。”戴夫·戴利开了一家礼品店，经营狗拉雪橇，并推广这座城市。

He also is a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, an office that supports business activity.

他还是支持商业活动的“商会”的前任主席。

The former military base had a rocket launch area. It seemed to keep bears away.

以前的军事基地有一个火箭发射区。它把北极熊都吓跑了。

When it closed, the bears started entering the town more often, longtime residents said.

长期住在这里的居民说，军事基地关闭后，北极熊又开始更频繁地进入该镇。

So, Churchill and province officials "put together a polar bear alert program to make sure the community members were looked after, (and) protected," said Spence who has been Churchill's mayor since 1995.

因此，丘吉尔和省政府官员“制定了一个北极熊警报计划，以确保社区成员得到照顾和保护，”斯宾塞说，他自1995年以来一直担任丘吉尔的市长。

The town's old curfew siren sounds nightly, warning people that it is time to go inside to be safe from bears.

镇上古老的宵禁警报器每晚都会响起，警告人们是时候待在室内了，以免受到熊的伤害。

Georgina Berg recalls growing up in the 1970s near Churchill, where many First Nations people lived.

乔治娜·伯格回忆20世纪70年代在丘吉尔附近长大，那里住着许多原住民。

"First Nations" is used in Canada to identify native people.

“原住民”在加拿大被用来称呼土著人。

She remembers how differently her father and mother would react to seeing a bear in the past.

她还记得，以前，她的父亲和母亲看到北极熊时的反应截然不同。

She said her father would not pay attention to them.

她说她父亲根本不理睬它们。

"He said, 'If you don't bother them, then they won't bother you,'" she recalled.

“他说，‘如果你不打扰他们，它们也不会打扰你，’”她回忆说。

When a bear came near in later years, after her father had died, her mom was frightened.

几年后，她的父亲去世后，一只北极熊靠近她时，她的母亲很害怕。

"Everybody was yelling, and all the kids had to come in and everybody had to go home.

“所有人都在大喊大叫，所有的孩子都必须进屋，人们都得回家。

And then we stayed silent in the house for a long time until we knew for sure that bear was gone," Berg recalled.

然后我们悄悄在屋子里待了很久，直到我们确定北极熊已经离开，”伯格回忆说。

For Van Nest, the provincial officer, the recent meeting with a group of bear watchers was different.

对于省官员范·内斯特来说，最近与一群北极熊观察者的见面显得格外不同。

The group was about 100 meters away from the bear. He said the bear was "putting on a bit of a show" for the tourists.

这群人离熊大约100米远。他说，这只北极熊是在给游客“表演”。

"This is a great situation to be in," he said. "The tourists are a safe distance away and the bear's doing his natural thing and not being harassed by anybody."

“这种现象很好，”他说。“游客们在安全距离之外，北极熊在做自己该做的事，丝毫没有受到人类的骚扰。”

I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Caty Weaver.

吉尔·罗宾斯报道。我是卡蒂·韦弗。

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