摘要：
就在美国各地动物园正在就是否应当继续像以前那样将大象关在笼子里圈养而辩论不休的时候，该国匹兹堡动物园近日买下了一座从前专门用于狩猎活动的牧场，打算在那里为非洲象建立一个全新的野外保护中心。
As zoos across the nation debate whether to keep elephants in captivity, the Pittsburgh zoo is buying a former hunting ranch to house a new conservation center to breed African elephants.

就在美国各地动物园正在就是否应当继续像以前那样将大象关在笼子里圈养而辩论不休的时候，该国匹兹堡动物园近日买下了一座从前专门用于狩猎活动的牧场，打算在那里为非洲象建立一个全新的野外保护中心。

据美联社1月11日报道，这家野外保护中心坐落在匹兹堡市东南约57英里处的萨莫塞特县境内。过不了多久，人们就会在这座原名为格伦·萨维吉的占地700英亩的牧场里看到猎豹、黑犀牛和斑马等多种动物，但其中最大的一部分牧场则要特意留给大象。按照计划，匹兹堡动物园将会以220万美元的价格从原所有者手中买下该牧场，而这一收购行动得到了总部位于美国弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿市的一家名叫自然资源保护基金会的非营利性环保组织的资助。按照该动物园管理人员的说法，这家牧场的草地以及永不结霜的河流非常适宜非洲象的生长。

匹兹堡动物园及该动物园的PPG水族馆董事会主席加里·克劳斯表示："无论是对匹兹堡动物园来说，还是对全美乃至全世界的大象保护运动来说，这项计划都是至关重要的。"马克·里德是美国动物园与水族馆联合会大象生存状况改进计划的负责人，他认为，各动物园现有的饲养环境往往不能提供足够的地方供小象茁壮成长，而该保护中心的建成则可以显著扩大原来待在动物园内的大象们的生存空间。

由于饲养大象存在许多难以解决的问题以及美国动物园与水族馆联合会在这方面最近出台的新标准，包括芝加哥动物园、旧金山动物园以及底特律动物园在内的5家美国动物园已经决定停止公开将大象关在笼子里展示的做法。来自美国人道协会的里查德·法里纳托表示，该机构希望各动物园最终能够彻底摒弃上述做法。他说："我们并不认为将大象关在笼子里圈养是一种符合动物天性的举动，另外，我们感到此种观点也同样适用于海豚、逆戟鲸和北极熊。"

（国际在线独家资讯 张咏）

本稿件为国际在线专稿，媒体转载请注明稿件来源和译者姓名。

As zoos across the nation debate whether to keep elephants in captivity, the Pittsburgh zoo is buying a former hunting ranch to house a new conservation center to breed African elephants.

The 700-acre center could later include cheetahs, black rhinoceros, and Grevy's zebras, but the biggest slice of the former Glen Savage Ranch would be dedicated to pachyderms.

The project "is extremely important to the zoo and to the conservation efforts of elephants nationally and internationally," said Gary Claus, chairman of the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium's board of directors.

The conservation center site is in Somerset County, about 57 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The zoo also will keep its 2-acre elephant exhibit site in Pittsburgh. It plans to buy the property from the ranch's owners for $2.2 million with a grant from The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit environmental group based in Arlington, Va.

The property's feeding sites and frost-free water areas make it suitable for African elephants, which can stand 10 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh more than 10,000 pounds, officials said.

Mark Reed, head of the elephant improvement program at the American Zoo & Aquarium Association, which accredits U.S. zoos, said the conservation center will expand the carrying capacity of elephants bred in zoos, which often don't have the space to keep maturing calves.

Problems with caring for pachyderms, as well as new standards from the AZA, have led five zoos, including those in Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit, to discontinue their elephant exhibits. About 40 other zoos are expanding their exhibits to meet the standards.

Richard Farinato of the Humane Society said the organization hopes zoos eventually phase out elephant exhibits.

"We just don't think they're suited to captivity, and we feel the same about dolphins, killer whales and polar bears," he said.

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