[ti:Severely Dry Weather Is Killing Zimbabwe’s Wildlife] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Many of Africa's best known kinds of wild animals [00:05.76]are dying from lack of food and water in Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park. [00:13.72]The 2,196- square-kilometer wildlife reserve [00:20.60]gets its name from the four nearby bodies of water [00:24.96]that the flooding Zambezi River fills every rainy season. [00:30.55]The area is home to elephants, zebras, hippopotamuses and many other kinds of wildlife. [00:40.38]But the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority [00:46.29]reports that at least 105 elephants have died in Zimbabwe's wildlife areas recently. [00:55.20]Most of the deaths have been in Mana and the larger Hwange National Park [01:02.23]in the past two months, the agency said. [01:05.72]Many animals are moving out of the parks and into nearby communities [01:11.92]in search of food and water. [01:15.23]Mana Pools is a United Nations Educational, Scientific [01:20.59]and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site known for its beauty. [01:27.04]The area experiences hot, dry weather at this time every year. [01:33.30]But this year, the dry conditions have been much worse. [01:38.76]Even the river's flow has reduced. [01:42.00]The drought hitting southern Africa is also affecting people. [01:48.20]The World Food Program reports that hunger threatens [01:52.90]an estimated 11 million people in nine countries. [01:58.28]The organization is planning large food distribution projects. [02:04.36]The countries of southern Africa have experienced normal rainfall [02:09.41]in only one of the past five growing seasons, the group says. [02:15.72]Each morning, Munyaradzi Dzoro, a parks agency wildlife officer, hopes for rain. [02:24.92]"It's beginning to be serious," he told the Associated Press, [02:29.61]standing next to the remains of a dead elephant and buffalo. [02:35.37]"It might be worse if we fail to receive rains" by early November. [02:41.21]The last major rainfall came in April, he said. [02:46.73]Mel Hood works with the Feed Mana project, [02:51.06]which is providing food support to animals in the area. [02:55.65]She said an early end to a "very poor rainy season" [03:00.59]has limited the growth of plants the animals need. [03:04.68]The area's once dependable water resources have turned dangerous for the animals. [03:12.68]Many have gotten stuck in the soft soil or clay while trying to reach Long Pool, [03:19.70]a five-kilometer-long watering hole. [03:23.15]It is one of the few remaining water resources in the park [03:28.17]but is only five percent of its normal size. [03:32.36]There are more than 12,000 elephants in Mana's flood plains. [03:38.24]Lions, buffaloes, zebras, wild dogs, hyenas, 350 kinds of birds [03:47.08]and many water animals live in the park, the parks agency reports. [03:53.22]"We used to say nature should take its course," [03:57.18]Dzoro said of the park's normal policy of not getting involved [04:02.48]and letting the ecosystem find its own balance. [04:07.36]Now, he said, officials are getting involved [04:10.91]to avoid losing animals and maintain population sizes. [04:17.04]Local plant life such as acacias, as well as other trees and grasses, [04:23.88]provide most of the food for big animals like elephants and buffaloes. [04:30.80]But the lack of rain has severely reduced the amount of plant life, [04:35.92]so officials began bringing food to the park in July. [04:41.06]Mel Hood says The Feed Mana project has been asking [04:46.28]for "urgent" donations of animal feed such as soy bean hay and grass. [04:53.44]"Although it may not be enough to stave off all the hunger... [04:57.92]it is certainly giving these animals a chance to survive [05:02.12]until conditions improve," Hood said. [05:06.01]I'm -Pete Musto. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM