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The idea that the humble chicken could become a savior of wildlife will seem improbable to many environmentalists. We tend to equate poultry* production with factory farms, downstream pollution and 50-piece McNugget buckets.
In much of the developing world, though, "a chicken in every pot" is the more pertinent* image. It's a tantalizing one for some conservationists because what's in the pot there these days is mostly trapped, snared or hunted wildlife — also called bushmeat — from cane rats and brush-tailed porcupines to gorillas.
Hunting for dinner is of course what humans have always done, the juicier half of our hunter-gatherer origins. In many remote forests and fishing villages, moreover, it remains an essential part of the cultural identity. But modern weaponry, motor vehicles, commercial markets and booming human populations , (1) have pushed the bushmeat trade to literal overkill — an estimated 15 million animals a year taken in the Brazilian Amazon alone, 579 million animals a year in Central Africa, and onward in a mad race to empty forests and waterways everywhere.
A study last year identified bushmeat hunting as the primary threat pushing 301 mammal species worldwide toward extinction. The victims include bonobo apes, one of our closest living relatives, and Grauer's gorillas, the world's largest. The latter have recently lost about 80 percent of their population, hunted down by mining camp crews with shotguns and AK-47s. Much of the mining is for a product integral to our cultural identities, a mineral used in the circuit boards of our cellphones.) The victims also include at least three species humans have probably already eaten into extinction: the kouprey, a water-buffalo-size animal from Southeast Asia; the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo from Papua; and a squirrelsize hutia from Cuba.
Bushmeat hunting also often leaves large carnivores* without prey animals to eat, one reason so-called protected areas across Africa now harbor only a quarter as many lions as they could, according to a recent study in the journal Biological Conservation. The lions and other predators frequently get caught in wire snares* set out for smaller animals. Some animals escape, minus a limb, and hobble along with the help of their social group. Such injuries are now so common that staff members at Panthera, the cat conservation group, talk about an "emerging" category of wildlife — "thousands upon thousands of tripod lions, cheetahs, African wild dogs and others who have lost their limbs to snares."
So what do chickens have to do with this gruesome business? [ A ] you could persuade governments to enforce laws against the hunting and selling of bushmeat, said David Wilkie of the Wildlife Conservation Society, you could not possibly make it work without providing an alternative source of protein. In many rural areas, particularly in Central and West Africa, wildlife is what there is to eat, accounting for up to 80 percent of protein in the diet – and 100 percent of the animal protein. Abruptly cutting off access to bushmeat could mean starvation.
What really worries Mr. Wilkie and others are regional towns near the sources of wild animal meat that have quickly grown into cities and have no access to the commercial food supply chain. “If those towns don't have a source of protein," Mr. Wilkie said, "it's dreadful for wildlife, but it's also dreadful for children." Even Kisangani, a major city in an inaccessible region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has become vulnerable, he notes, depleting* fish for hundreds of miles up and down the Congo River. Bushmeat now comes from as far as a national park 200 miles away. That is, an essential food source for the city is already rapidly vanishing because of the relentless emptying forests and water bodies.
In the past, governments and nonprofit groups have tried to promote a practical alternative meat source through wildlife ranching*, focusing on the same species targeted by the bushmeat trade. But those efforts have almost always failed, because wild animals make lousy livestock. They are often difficult to breed in captivity, and require too much food and time to reach market size. As a result, many wildlife farmers routinely restock from the wild, merely laundering the bushmeat trade.
Chickens, though, have been [ B ] intensive domestication efforts over roughly 8,000 years, Mr. Wilkie said, and we know how to rear them cheaply and in quantity. The trick is to translate that knowledge to the small backyard flocks, generally kept by women, in rural villages everywhere.
*poultry 鶏肉
*pertinent 妥当な
*carnivore 肉食
*snare 罠にかける
*depleting 枯渇させる
*ranching 牧場経営
1. According to the first paragraph, poultry farming
a. is often associated with environmental damage.
b. may resolve food shortage in developing countries.
c. is usually known for overuse of medications.
d. might help people with low income and poor health.
2. According to the second paragraph, for people in developing areas
a. chicken is their first choice because it is more affordable than bushmeat.
b. mass production farming can increase the availability of chicken.
c. hunted wildlife, not chicken, is often the main source of meat.
d. chickens provide a cheap source of protein compared to other meats.
3. What does underline (1) indicate in this passage?
a. A number of wildlife species have been hunted to near extinction.
b. Bushmeat hunting has become violent due to competition among hunters.
c. There has been a large loss in human population due to bushmeat hunting.
d. Hunting wild animals has threatened the natural habitats of animals.
4. According to the passage, in rapidly developing regions near to the sources of bushmeat.
a. people quickly develop access to commercial food supply chains.
b. people can face a serious problem of securing a source of protein.
c. people may prefer chicken because it is part of their cultural identity.
d. people are susceptible to illness due to heavy consumption of bushmeat.
5. Why did wildlife ranching fail?
a. The animals needed specific food which was not available as livestock fee
d.
b. The animals were too dangerous for local people to keep.
c. The animals needed to be restocked from the wild to maintain their health.
d. The animals were difficult to breed in a controlled environment.
6. The most appropriate choice to fill blank [ A ] is
a. Subjecting
b. Reflecting
c. Accounting
d. Assuming
7. The most appropriate choice to fill blank [ B ] is
a. subject to
b. required to
c. accounting for
d. studied for
8. Which of the following best describes the author's assertion?
a. Large-scale chicken farming can provide people with the resources for social mobility.
b. Helping village women to keep chickens can provide people with reliable sources of protein.
c. Many countries are reluctant to enforce laws against the hunting and selling of bushmeat.
d. Local production of chicken allows families to start their own family farming business.
9. Select two of the following statements which best match the content of the passage.
a. Predator animals are left without prey animals to eat in their habitat due to bushmeat hunting.
b. Predator animals with injuries are usually the target of bushmeat hunting.
c. Predator animals in protected areas are often the target of bushmeat hunting.
d. Predator animals often find prey at wire snares set up for bushmeat hunting.
e. Predator animals often get injured by being caught in a trap for bushmeat hunting,
f. Predator animals such as lions are relocated to protected areas to avoid bushmeat hunting,
g. Predator animals are now categorized as "endangered' because of bushmeat hunting.
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