Greece's donkeys are disappearing fast. If current trends continue, ex-perts warn, they will vanish within the next two decades. Used for cen-turies from transporting people and goods to plowing fields, the donkey has fallen victim to modernization. The Greek island of Hydra, southwest of Athens, for instance, has roughly 1,200 donkeys and mules. In the last 50 years, the number of donkeys in Greece has plummeted by 96 percent, falling from nearly half a million in the 1950s to just over 18,000 in 1996.

希臘的驢子正快速消失，專家警告，長此以往，牠們將在未來20年內消失。無數世紀以來，這些驢子一直用來運送人貨及耕地，如今驢子也淪為現代化的祭品。以希臘雅典西南方的海卓拉島為例，目前約有1,200頭驢和騾。過去50年來，希臘驢子數量遽減96%，從1950年代的50萬頭，減少為1996年的18,000頭。

Many more died during this sum-mer's devastating fires that swept the country's southern Peloponnese—where about 40 percent of Greece's donkeys live. By the end of the year, there will be fewer than 16,000 left. If this reduction continues, within 10 to 15 years the donkey population will fall below 1,000. Photo shows a father and his son enjoy a ride with a don-key and a mule on Hydra on Oct. 13, 2007.

今夏肆虐希臘南部伯羅奔尼撒的野火也造成很多驢子死亡，因為希臘約40%驢子集中於此地。至今年底，剩下的驢子將不到16,000頭。如果繼續減少下去，未來十到十五年，驢子將減至一千頭以下。圖為一對祖孫10月13日正準備騎驢子在海卓拉島上遊覽。