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) | 由于美國遭受9·11恐怖襲擊后，加強了空運安全保護，致使兩只正在波士頓弗蘭克林動物園進行暑期"訪問"的考拉現在也無法返回它們圣地亞哥動物園的老家了。 動物園管理員布萊恩-拉特利奇說，考拉是一種非常敏感而且價值連城的有袋類動物，它們不適合用貨機運送，只能同其他乘客一起乘坐客機（飛回老家）。 自從9月11日世貿中心和五角大樓遭到被劫持飛機的襲擊之后，美國加強了對機場的安全控制。 兩架遭劫持的飛機--美利堅航空公司的11次航班和聯合航空公司的175次航班都是從波士頓洛根國際機場起飛后被劫持的。 今年年初，美利堅航空公司免費將這兩只考拉從圣地亞哥運送到了弗蘭克林動物園，并計劃將它們送回去。 一位發言人告訴記者，像其它航空公司一樣，美利堅航空公司也在不斷減少航班班次，所以在原定時間運送考拉時，他們不能保證為這兩只考拉提供能夠容納考拉板條箱的大機身飛機。 這位發言人說，由于目前空中安全防范的加強，使得這次的運送更加困難。 盡管這兩只8磅（4公斤）重的考拉性情溫順，但是考拉在箱子里的時候，工作人員還是無法檢查箱子的。而且考拉也不可能在機場被移出箱子，那樣很可能讓它們受驚，甚至有逃跑的危險。 拉特利奇對記者說："檢查考拉的育兒袋更是不可能的事。" 動物園工作人員說，火車或者汽車運送需要時間太長，而且會凍壞這兩只產自澳大利亞的考拉。它們在波士頓動物園的住所是按照新英格蘭地區（美國東北部，波士頓所在地）夏季的氣候建造的，而不是冬季。動物園方面則保證，如果天氣轉冷的話，他們會想盡辦法讓考拉保持暖和的。 圣地亞哥動物園的工作人員告訴記者說，他們會耐心等待這兩只考拉--20個月大的基利和2歲的潘迪卡回家。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2001-10-11 01:00
