Camels Rampage 駱駝橫行霸道

By Jack Izzard, BBC News

媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。

Background: 澳大利亞當局決定對一大批蜂擁而至的野生駱駝采取驅趕行動。多達六千頭駱駝橫沖直闖進入該國北部一個小居民區，踐踏了民宅的籬笆，污染了水源，讓當地居民嚇得不敢出門。現在民眾要反擊了。

A dusty outpost in the Aussie outback, Docker River has a population of 355... humans that is. But in recent weeks thousands of wild camels have descended on the town in search of water. The result has been chaos according to the head of the local authority Graham Taylor.

''Water supplies have been broken and damaged, sewers under the ground have been trampled and crushed, the airport is actually virtually unusable."

A million wild camels are thought to roam the red, sandy plains of Australia's Northern Territory but a drought has made natural water scarce, driving the thirsty beasts to head into populated areas. In Docker River their overwhelming numbers have forced residents to stay indoors. Now the state government has authorised a cull. Rob Knight is a spokesman.

"Docker River is under siege by 6,000 marauding, wild camels."

We'll be pushing them out 15km and shooting them and letting them decay into the desert.''

Animal rights campaigners say using helicopters to round up the camels for shooting them en masse is barbaric but Docker's River human residents say they are determined to get their town back.