Remembering Lady Liuwa
The ‘Last Lioness’ of Liuwa Plain
纪念柳瓦夫人——柳瓦平原最后的母狮
It has been confirmed by African Parks that a legendary lioness fondly known as ‘Lady Liuwa’, who lived in Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia, has died of natural causes on August 9th, 2017, just one-day before World Lion Day. African Parks, a conservation NGO which manages national parks and protected areas across Africa, has been managing Liuwa Plain in partnership with the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) since 2003.
据非洲国家公园证实，生活在赞比亚平原的一代传奇母狮柳瓦夫人于2017年8月9日，在世界狮日的前一天因自然原因去世。非洲公园是一个保护非政府组织，管理着非洲国家公园和保护区。自2003年以来，它一直与赞比亚国家公园和野生动物协会(DNPW)和巴洛特皇家机构(BRE)合作管理柳瓦平原。
Lady Liuwa was an icon, and a symbol of survival and resilience. Due to years of poaching and illegal trophy hunting, lions were completely eradicated from Liuwa Plain in the 1990’s, except for one lioness – Lady Liuwa. Her presence was first confirmed in 2002 and since then she roamed the plains for years as the sole survivor in the park. With no lions to be found, she looked to humans for companionship. Her extraordinary story of survival, as well as how African Parks helped give her a pride of her own, became one of the most moving wildlife films ever produced.
柳瓦夫人是生命顽强的象征。由于多年的偷猎和非法狩猎，20世纪90年代，狮子在柳瓦平原损失殆尽，只有一只母狮——柳瓦夫人，坚强并孤独的活了下来。她的出现在2002年首次得到证实，此后多年来她一直在平原上游荡，成为公园里唯一的幸存者。由于没有其他同类的存在，她一度寻求人类的陪伴。关于她独自求生的非凡故事，以及非洲国家公园为了帮助她建立狮子群所做的努力，成为有史以来最感人的野生动物电影之一。
“Lady Liuwa was a truly exceptional lioness, so much so that it is impossible to do justice to her in words” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks. “Oftentimes she would lie just five meters away from our camp-fire in the middle of the park. When it came time to go to bed, she would follow, walking parallel to the path and then fall asleep in front of one of our tents. In the mornings, we would find her in a tree, just watching but never threatening us. After years of being solitary, and after several reintroductions and careful management, we were finally able to unite her with her own kind. While her passing saddens us all, she leaves behind a legacy of survival in the small but growing pride in Liuwa Plain”.
非洲国家公园的首席执行官彼得·弗尔纳海德说:“柳瓦夫人是一个真正出类拔萃的母狮，很难用言语来表达。通常她会在离我们公园中央营火只有五米远的地方躺下。到了上床睡觉的时候，她会跟我们并排走在小路上，然后在我们的帐篷前面睡着。在早上，我们会在一棵树上找到她，她只是看着，但从不威胁我们。经过多年独自生活，小心翼翼地介绍同类给她，我们终于能够把她和她的同类结合起来。虽然她的去世让我们都感到难过，但她在柳瓦平原留下了宝贵的遗产，一个历经磨难生存下来并且不断壮大的狮群。
The efforts to find Lady Liuwa her own family were not without setbacks. After five years of waiting for lions to return to Liuwa from the larger landscape, and after securing the park through improved law enforcement and working with local communities, African Parks reintroduced a male lion in 2008 to join Lady. Sadly, he died during the translocation process. A year later, two more males were reintroduced, both of whom mated with Lady Liuwa but she never produced any cubs, almost certainly because of her infertility. Two young lionesses were then reintroduced in 2011.
帮助柳瓦夫人建立自己家庭的努力并非没有挫折。经过5年的等待，狮子从邻近的公园被重新引进柳瓦平原，通立法并与当地社区合作，进一步保障狮子的安全。非洲公园在2008年重新引入了一只雄狮加入柳瓦夫人，不幸的是，他在迁移过程中死亡。一年后，又有两名雄狮被重新引进，他们都与柳瓦夫人进行了交配，但柳瓦夫人一直没有生育幼崽，几乎可以肯定是因为她的不育症。为了狮群的繁衍，2011年，柳瓦平原又引进了两只年轻的雌狮。
However, in 2012 one of the females was killed by a poacher’s snare and the other, Sepo, fled towards the Angolan boundary. In a dramatic rescue mission, Sepo was darted, flown back to the park by helicopter and placed in a boma for safety along with Lady Liuwa to encourage Sepo to bond with Lady, critical for the young lioness' survival. And this time it worked. After two months, they were released back into the park, and were inseparable from that point forward. Sepo produced her first litter of cubs shortly thereafter.
然而，2012年，一只雌狮被偷猎者的陷阱杀死，另一只雌狮，Sepo，则逃向安哥拉边界。在一次戏剧性的营救行动中，Sepo被直升机吊回了公园，并与柳瓦夫人一起被安置在了一个安全的封闭的场地里，以帮助Sepo和柳瓦夫人建立亲密关系，这对年轻的雌狮非常重要。这一次成功了。两个月后，她们被一起放回公园，此后她们几乎没再分开过。不久，Sepo很快生下了她的第一批幼崽。
The growing pride suffered another setback when the two males left the park and entered Angola. One was shot and killed by villagers, but the other made it safely back to Liuwa on his own, where he became the resident male. African Parks in collaboration with the Zambia Carnivore Programme (ZCP), DNPW and Mushingashi Conservancy reintroduced another male lion in September 2016 to help grow the pride and increase genetic integrity. The newly translocated male and the resident male were placed in a boma for two months to undergo the bonding process and then were successfully released into the park to join with the females. While the males were in the enclosure, Lady Liuwa and Sepo would visit them, sleeping just outside of it at night, and staying just a short distance from it during the day. On November 15th 2016 it was confirmed that Sepo had produced another two new cubs, sired by the resident male. While Lady Liuwa could not have cubs of her own, she was seen helping to raise Sepo’s numerous litters over the years, and it was clear that finally Lady Liuwa had a pride of her own.
当两只雄狮离开公园进入哥拉时，悲剧再一次发生。其中一只雄狮被村民射杀，而另一只则独自一人安全返回柳瓦平原。非洲公园与赞比亚食肉动物计划(ZCP)、DNPW和Mushingashi协会合作，在2016年9月重新引入了另一只雄性狮子，以帮助狮群补充新的基因。新来的雄狮和常驻雄性被安置在一起两个月，经历了关系建立的过程，然后被成功地释放到公园和雌性一起。当雄性在封闭栅栏里的时候，柳瓦夫人和Sepo会去拜访他们，晚上就睡在栅栏外面，白天的时候会保持一段很短的距离。在2016年11月15日，据证实，Sepo已经生产了另外两只新幼崽，当地的雄性是幼崽的爸爸。柳瓦夫人虽然不能拥有自己的幼崽，但多年来，她一直在帮助养大Sepo的众多幼崽，很明显，柳瓦夫人终于有了自己的狮群。
Lady Liuwa’s exact age is unknown, but it is believed she was 17 years old, an extraordinary feat for a wild lion hunting and surviving on her own, and is a testament to the collaborative protection she was afforded by African Parks, the DNPW, ZCP and the BRE. Her remains along with her VHF collar were found yesterday. There was no sign of human activity and it is believed she died of natural causes.
柳瓦夫人的确切年龄尚不清楚，但据信她已经17岁了，这是野生狮子狩猎和独自生存的非凡壮举，也是她在非洲公园、DNPW、ZCP和BRE所提供的合作保护的证明。她和她的VHF项圈的遗体昨天被发现。没有人类活动的迹象，人们相信她是自然死亡的。
“It’s incredibly rare for a lion to live to such an old age and to die from natural causes” said Matthew Becker, CEO of ZCP. “Lions are incredibly threatened across their range given the levels of poaching, conflict killing and habitat loss and fragmentation that is occurring across the continent. Her survival and that of her growing pride signifies what can happen when people come together to help protect and restore a species – Lady’s story is one of hope and possibility”.
ZCP首席执行官马修贝克尔(Matthew Becker)表示:“一头狮子活到这样的年纪，死于自然原因，这是非常罕见的。”“在整个大陆，由于偷猎、冲突造成的杀戮和栖息地的丧失和碎片化，狮子受到了难以置信的威胁。”她的生存和她日益壮大的狮群表明，当人们合力帮助保护和恢复一个物种时，会发生什么——柳瓦夫人的故事代表着希望和可能。
