In America, white-tailed deer are more numerous than ever before,
在美国，白尾鹿的数量创到历史新高，它们的数量如此庞大，
so abundant in fact that they've become a suburban nuisance and a health hazard.
以至于它们事实上已经给郊区居民带来了困扰，并对其健康造成了潜在的威胁。
Why can't the herd be thinned the old-fashioned way?
鹿群的数量为什么不能用老办法削减呢？
The small community of North Haven on Long Island is home to some six hundred to seven hundred deer.
长岛北天堂小区如今生活着大约六七百只鹿。
The Department of Environmental Conservation estimates the optimum population at 60.
据环境保护署估计，鹿的最佳数量为60只。
The town has been browsed bare of vegetation, except where gardens and shrubs are protected by high fences.
如今，除了受到高栅栏保护的公园和灌木丛，小镇的植被已被吃得一毛不剩。
Drivers routinely collide with deer
司机们还经常与鹿相撞，
and there are so many dead bodies left by the side of the road
导致路边常常横陈着大量鹿的尸体，
that the town has made it a deal with a local pet cemetery to collect and dispose of the bodies.
结果小镇不得不与当地的宠物公墓达成协议，由他们收集并处理尸体。
Some people in the town have become ill from deer-transmitted diseases.
一些镇民染上了鹿传播疾病。
On the occasions when hunting has been tried,
人们曾尝试用打猎来解决问题，
local animal rights people have worked to secure court orders against the hunts.
于是当地动物权益保护人士试图请求法院发布捕猎禁令。
And when that is failed, they stop the hunters, banging on pots and pans to alert the deer.
这一努力失败以后，他们开始通过敲击锅碗瓢盆向鹿发出警报，以阻止猎人们的猎杀。
Town meetings called to discuss the problem inevitably dissolved into confrontations.
讨论此问题的市镇会议无一例外地以冲突告终。
The activists believe simply that the deer are not the problem.
活跃分子简单地认为鹿根本不是问题。
Some communities have even discussed the possibility of bringing wolves back into the ecological mix.
一些人甚至讨论了将狼重新引入生物圈的可能性。
That means wolves in the suburbs of New York.
这意味着狼群进入纽约郊区。
It is almost too wonderful not to try it.
不尝试这个办法，真得值得喝彩。
The wolves would kill deer, of course.
当然，狼会将鹿杀死。
They would also terrorize and kill dogs and cats which is not what the suburban dwellers have in mind.
但他们同时也会杀死猫狗等当地居民不愿杀死的动物。