Guardian Dogs Penguin Protectors

Guardian Dogs, Penguin Protectors. Written by Gabrielle Fembres.

护卫犬，企鹅守护者。 加布里埃尔·费姆布雷 著。

Penguin Protectors Yudi and Tula are on patrol. They protect the little penguins of Middle Island off the coast of Australia. These shaggy white maremma dogs watch over the penguins that come to the island every year to breed. The smell of the dogs and their booming bark Keep the penguins safe from red foxes. These foxes nearly caused the little penguins to vanish from this small rocky island.

企鹅守护者尤迪和图拉正在巡逻。 它们守护着澳大利亚海岸外中岛上的小企鹅。 这些毛茸茸的白色马雷马牧羊犬，看护着每年来岛上繁殖的企鹅。 狗狗的气味和响亮的吠叫，保护企鹅远离赤狐的伤害。 这些赤狐差点让小企鹅从这座多岩石的小岛上消失。

Little penguins. The little penguin, the smallest in the world, stands only 30 centimeters 12 inches tall. It lives all across New Zealand and southern Australia. It is sometimes called the little blue penguin or the fairy penguin. During breeding season, little penguins live burrows dug in sand. Once they lay eggs, they get ready for them to hatch. After the eggs hatch, adults fish during the day and return to their burrows at dusk to feed the babies. The chicks are ready to leave the nest when they are about eight weeks old.

小企鹅。 小企鹅是世界上最小的企鹅，身高只有30厘米，也就是12英寸。 它们分布在新西兰各地和澳大利亚南部。 它们有时也被叫做小蓝企鹅，或是神仙企鹅。 繁殖季里，小企鹅住在沙地里挖的洞穴中。 产完蛋后，它们就等着企鹅蛋孵化。 蛋孵化后，企鹅爸爸妈妈白天出海捕鱼，黄昏时回到洞穴喂养幼崽。 小企鹅大约八周大的时候，就准备离开巢穴了。

For years, little penguins raised families on Middle Island, close to the city of Warnum Bull, Australia. Then, in the 1990s, foxes began to appear on the island. During the summer, the tide is very low. Foxes can walk to the island from the mainland. As the number of foxes grew, they began to eat the little penguins. By 2005, the penguin population on Middle Island was nearly wiped out by fox attacks. That year, only four penguins were spotted, says Christy King. She keeps track of the penguins on the island. It seemed that the days of the little penguin on Middle Island might be over.

多年来，小企鹅都在澳大利亚沃纳姆布尔市附近的中岛上繁衍生息。 后来，在20世纪90年代，狐狸开始出现在岛上。 夏天的时候，潮水退得很低。 狐狸可以从大陆步行走到岛上。 随着狐狸数量越来越多，它们开始捕食小企鹅。 到2005年，中岛的企鹅群几乎被狐狸捕杀殆尽。 克里斯蒂·金说，那年只发现了四只企鹅。 她一直负责追踪记录岛上企鹅的情况。 看起来，中岛的小企鹅好像就要消失了。

brilliant idea. One local chicken farmer had a brilliant idea. Alan Swampy Marsh suggested using maremmas to protect the penguins. He used the dogs to protect his chickens, so why couldn't they protect penguins? Maremmas have been bred in Italy for hundreds of years. They protect farm animals, usually chickens or sheep, from predators such as wolves and foxes.

绝妙的主意。 当地一位养鸡户想到了一个绝妙的主意。 艾伦·“沼泽”·马什提议用马雷马牧羊犬保护企鹅。 他都用这些狗保护自己的鸡了，为什么不能用来保护企鹅呢？ 马雷马牧羊犬在意大利已经繁育了数百年。 它们保护农场动物，一般是鸡或者羊，抵御狼和狐狸这类掠食者。

neighbors and conservationists came together to give the idea a try. The Warnum Bull City Council and Warnum Bull Coast Care Land Care Group created the Middle Island Maremma Project. To see if Marsh's idea would work, one of his dogs was brought to the for a few weeks. These hero dogs turned out to be the perfect answer. Since coming to the island in 2006, there have been no known attacks on penguins by red foxes. This has allowed the of penguins on the island to increase, King says. As of the 2013 to 2014 breeding season, almost 200 penguins had returned to the island.

居民和自然保护工作者联合起来，打算试试这个想法。 沃纳姆布尔市议会和沃纳姆布尔海岸土地保护小组发起了中岛马雷马牧羊犬项目。 为了验证马什的想法是否可行，他的一只狗被送到岛上待了几周。 结果证明，这些英雄狗狗就是完美的解决办法。 自从2006年狗狗来到岛上，再也没有发生过已知的赤狐袭击企鹅事件。 金说，这让岛上的企鹅数量开始增长。 截至2013到2014年的繁殖季，已有近200只企鹅回到了这座岛上。