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Updated: 2001-10-11 01:00

Koalas Stranded by Travel Woes (2001/10/11)

空运受控, 考拉被困 (2001/10/11)

Two koalas that spent their summer visiting Boston's Franklin Park Zoo on loan from the San Diego Zoo, are having a hard time getting through security to fly home.

The sensitive, valuable marsupials cannot be flown in the cargo area and instead fly with the passengers, zookeeper Brian Rutledge said.

Since the Sept 11. attacks when hijackers crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, airport security has been tightened at U.S. airports.

Two of the four planes -- American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 -- were hijacked from Boston's Logan International Airport.

American Airlines flew the pair for free from San Diego earlier this year and was to fly them home.

But American, like other airlines, is now running on a reduced schedule and cannot promise that the wide-body jets necessary to fit the crates will be available for a San Diego run when the animals are slated for return, a spokeswoman told the newspaper.

Heightened security was also complicating the problem, the spokeswoman said.

The 8-pound (4-kg) koalas are not ferocious, but their crates cannot be searched with them inside. The animals cannot be taken out of the crates at the airport because of the stress it would place on them and the risk they could get loose.

``Searching their pockets is out of the question,'' Rutledge told the newspaper.

Trains and buses take too long and also would put stress on the animals that are native to Australia, zoo officials said. Their shelter at the Boston zoo was built for summer in New England, not winter. The zoo said it would find a way to keep the koalas warm when it turned colder.

The San Diego Zoo told the newspaper it would wait patiently for 20-month-old Kiley and 2-year-old Pendicup.

(Agencies)

由于美国遭受9·11恐怖袭击后,加强了空运安全保护,致使两只正在波士顿弗兰克林动物园进行暑期"访问"的考拉现在也无法返回它们圣地亚哥动物园的老家了。

动物园管理员布莱恩-拉特利奇说,考拉是一种非常敏感而且价值连城的有袋类动物,它们不适合用货机运送,只能同其他乘客一起乘坐客机(飞回老家)。

自从9月11日世贸中心和五角大楼遭到被劫持飞机的袭击之后,美国加强了对机场的安全控制。

两架遭劫持的飞机--美利坚航空公司的11次航班和联合航空公司的175次航班都是从波士顿洛根国际机场起飞后被劫持的。

今年年初,美利坚航空公司免费将这两只考拉从圣地亚哥运送到了弗兰克林动物园,并计划将它们送回去。

一位发言人告诉记者,像其它航空公司一样,美利坚航空公司也在不断减少航班班次,所以在原定时间运送考拉时,他们不能保证为这两只考拉提供能够容纳考拉板条箱的大机身飞机。

这位发言人说,由于目前空中安全防范的加强,使得这次的运送更加困难。

尽管这两只8磅(4公斤)重的考拉性情温顺,但是考拉在箱子里的时候,工作人员还是无法检查箱子的。而且考拉也不可能在机场被移出箱子,那样很可能让它们受惊,甚至有逃跑的危险。

拉特利奇对记者说:"检查考拉的育儿袋更是不可能的事。"

动物园工作人员说,火车或者汽车运送需要时间太长,而且会冻坏这两只产自澳大利亚的考拉。它们在波士顿动物园的住所是按照新英格兰地区(美国东北部,波士顿所在地)夏季的气候建造的,而不是冬季。动物园方面则保证,如果天气转冷的话,他们会想尽办法让考拉保持暖和的。

圣地亚哥动物园的工作人员告诉记者说,他们会耐心等待这两只考拉--20个月大的基利和2岁的潘迪卡回家。

(中国日报网站译)

 
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