新冠疫情重创的不只有人类，动物也深受其累，其中就包括无辜的水貂。由于从人类身上感染了新冠病毒，荷兰、西班牙、美国等地超百万只水貂被宰杀。

Caged minks look on after police officers arrived at Thorbjorn Jepsen's mink farm, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Gjoel, Denmark October 9, 2020. Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS

The coronavirus pandemic has already claimed more than a million human lives, but we aren't the only living things in danger from COVID-19: minks are being killed off in their thousands because of the spread of the virus.

新冠大流行病已经夺走了超过100万人的生命，但人类并非唯一受新冠病毒威胁的生物：由于病毒的传播，已经有成千上万的水貂被宰杀。

NBC News reports on the deaths of almost 10,000 minks at farms in Utah in the US, while the picture in Europe has been even bleaker according to Sky News – at a farm in Spain, for example, over 92,000 of the animals have been slaughtered after it was estimated that 90 percent of them had caught the virus.

美国国家广播公司新闻部曾对美国犹他州农场近1万只水貂的死亡进行了报道，根据天空新闻报道，欧洲的情况则更为惨烈——比如说在西班牙的一处农场有超过92000只水貂被宰杀，原因是预计那里90%的水貂都感染了新冠病毒。

In the Netherlands, the death toll has been even higher: over 1 million mink have been culled in the country over concerns that the animals could pass the virus back to humans, as per an AP report. World Health Organisation epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove has said the risk of catching COVID-19 from an animal remains "very limited".

在荷兰，水貂的死亡总数更甚。根据美联社的报道，因担忧水貂将病毒传回给人类，荷兰国内有超过100万只水貂被扑杀。世界卫生组织的流行病学家玛利亚·范·科克浩夫曾表示，从动物身上感染新冠病毒的风险仍旧“十分有限”。

Thorbjorn Jepsen holds up a mink at his farm, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Gjoel, Denmark October 9, 2020. Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS

In the case of the Utah outbreak, it covers nine fur farms and has been thought to have been caused by the virus being passed on from an infected handler. The first signs of the virus spreading to minks in the region were spotted back in August.

美国犹他州的疫情暴发涉及到9家皮毛农场，据认为是由一名染病的管理者传播的病毒。在该地区，病毒传播给水貂的最初迹象可以追溯至今年8月份。

COVID-19 affects minks in a similar way to people, causing respiratory problems that tend to be worse in older animals. The mustelids group, which includes minks, weasels and badgers, is known to be at particular risk of catching the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

水貂感染新冠病毒的表现和人类很像，会发生呼吸系统问题，较老的动物病情会更严重。据悉，包括水貂、黄鼬和獾在内的鼬科动物特别容易感染新冠病毒。

"Minks show open mouth breathing, discharge from their eyes and nose, and are not sick for several days before they pass away," Utah veterinarian Dean Taylor told NBC News. "They typically die within the next day."

“感染后的水貂会张着嘴呼吸，眼睛和鼻子里会流出液体，不会病几天才死亡，”犹他州的兽医迪恩·泰勒告诉美国国家广播公司新闻部说，“他们(染病后)通常第二天就会死亡。”

The lungs of the dead minks were "wet, heavy, red and angry" when examined, veterinary pathologist Tom Baldwin, from Utah State University, toldScience. That's consistent with signs of pneumonia, and matches up with investigations carried out in Europe.

犹他州立大学的兽医病理学家汤姆·鲍德温告诉《科学》期刊说，在检查病死的水貂时，能看到肺部是“湿重的、红色并有炎症”。这与肺炎的症状一致，也和欧洲开展的调查结果相符。

angry: adj.(伤口等)发炎的

Scientists are urgently trying to establish which animals are able to pass the virus back to humans – there are instances of it potentially happening, but as noted by WHO, at the moment the risk is thought to be low (and much lower than the risk of human-to-human transmission).

科学家正迫切地想要查实哪种动物能够将病毒传回给人类。虽然有一些潜在的案例，但是世界卫生组织指出，目前认为这种风险较低(而且比人传人的风险要低很多)。

It appears we can very much pass it on to other species though, as this tragedy among mink populations shows – yet another reason for the rest of the animal kingdom to be very afraid of us.

不过，看起来人类极有可能将病毒传播给其他物种，正如这场水貂的悲剧所显示的。这也是动物王国的其他成员非常惧怕我们的另一个原因。

It's another sad story in a year that's been full of them, but there are reasons to be optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine isn't too far off.

这是充满悲剧的一年里的又一出悲剧，但也有值得乐观的理由，因为新冠疫苗已经不远了。

编辑：杨味  审编：木易