夜猫行动 第一集：鹿为何要过马路？

本集包含强烈语言内容。

This episode contains strong language.

这条小溪叫什么名字？

What's the name of the creek?

这是梅里梅汀河。

This is Merrimetin River.

梅里梅汀河。

Merrimetin River.

好的。

Okay.

是的。

Yep.

那我们就从这里上去。

So we'll go up here.

罗恩·阿瑟诺正在巡逻。

Ron Arsenault is on patrol.

他是新罕布什尔州渔猎局的保育官员。

He's a conservation officer with New Hampshire's Fish and Game Department.

我们沿着这条小河巡查，寻找违法者。

We were walking along this little river looking for folks breaking the law.

这里属于普通垂钓区，对任何钓法都开放。

This is all general fishing, so this is open for anything.

这条河一直通向梅里梅汀湖。

And this goes all the way up to Merrimating Lake.

这是一个寒冷多风的春日早晨。

It's a cold, windy spring morning.

不太适合钓鱼，水面上几乎看不到人影。

Not too great for fishing and there's no one really on the water.

罗恩裹着一件绿色钓鱼夹克，脚蹬黑靴，穿着他每天不变的制服。

Ron is bundled up in a green fishing game jacket, black boots, same uniform he wears every day.

这时，罗恩发现了什么。

And then, Ron spots something.

哦，看看我们发现了什么。

Oh, look what we have here.

水底下有一段绳子。

A length of rope just under the water.

他开始把绳子拉上来。

He starts pulling it in.

这些总是很有趣。

These are always fun.

永远猜不到会发现什么。

Never know never know what you're gonna get.

这是别人的小鱼陷阱，按规定应该在陷阱上标注姓名。

So this is, somebody's minnow trap, and they're supposed to have their name on their trap.

看起来里面有只小龙虾。

So looks like a crayfish in there.

哦，没错。

Oh, yeah.

罗恩拉出一个金属网笼，就是渔民用来装活饵鱼的那种。

Ron pulls out a small mesh wire crate, the kind anglers use to catch live minnows for bait.

这个陷阱是非法的。

So this trap is illegal.

没有名字，什么都没有。

There's no name, no nothing.

我会放了小龙虾，然后没收这个陷阱——除非我能看到上面有名字。

So I'll let the crayfish go and we'll confiscate this trap unless I see a name on here.

哦，所以你就这么拿走了，是吧。

Oh, so you'll just take it then, Yeah.

因为这是违法的。

Because it's illegal.

他那里有什么，饼干吗？

What's he got in there, cookie?

看起来像饼干，哦不，是

Looks like a cookie, Or no, it's

嗯，香肠肉饼。

a Yeah, sausage sausage patty.

好吧，小龙虾先生。

Alright, mister cray fish.

再见。

Bye.

罗恩大部分日子都是这样，在新罕布什尔州中部四处走动或开车巡逻，执行这里所有的狩猎和捕鱼规定。

Most of Ron's days are like this, walking or driving around Central New Hampshire, enforcing all the hunting and fishing regulations here.

别搞错了，罗恩是个警察。

And make no mistake, Ron is a cop.

他配枪，会逮捕人，但这工作与大多数执法形式不同。

He carries a gun, he makes arrests, but this job is different from most forms of law enforcement.

狩猎和捕鱼法律的制定是为了防止猎物灭绝并保障人们的安全。

Hunting and fishing laws were made to prevent game animals from being wiped out and to keep people safe.

此外，狩猎被视为一项运动。

Also, hunting is considered a sport.

是的，它涉及猎杀动物，但有一套道德准则，规定什么是公平的、什么不是，由数百条法律强制执行。

Yes, it involves killing animals, but there is a code of ethics, rules about what is and isn't fair, enforced by hundreds of laws.

这使得罗恩成为荒野中的一种裁判。

That makes Ron a kind of referee of the wild.

没人喜欢作弊者。

Nobody likes a cheater.

你知道吗？

You know?

任何比赛，任何球赛，一旦你作弊，你就永远是个作弊者。

Any game, any ballgame, once you're a cheater, you're a cheater.

明白吗？

You know?

所以我们某种程度上是鹿群的裁判，或者说猎物的裁判，鱼群的裁判，你懂吧。

So that's kinda we're the referee for the for the deer, you know, or the the game animal or the fish, you know.

我们专门抓作弊者。

We're we're catching the cheaters.

这就是我们的工作。

That's what we're doing.

多年来，他见过不少作弊者。

And over the years, he's seen plenty of cheaters.

但他职业生涯中没有任何案件能与2023年那次抓捕相提并论。

But nothing in his career compares to the bust he and his colleagues made in the 2023.

等你退休后写回忆录时，

When you write your book after you retire, where will Operation

‘夜帽行动’会放在哪一章？

Nightcap land?

我还没决定，因为这个案子本身就够写本书了。

I haven't decided because that could be a book in itself.

‘夜猫行动’。

Operation Night Cat.

新罕布什尔州历史上最大的偷猎案之一。

One of the biggest poaching cases in New Hampshire history.

2022年12月一个寒冷的日子里，罗恩偶然接手的一桩案件。

A case that Ron stumbled upon one cold December day in 2022.

这桩案件逐渐演变成他职业生涯中最诡异、最疯狂、最黑暗的调查之一。

A case that slowly unraveled into one of the weirdest, wildest, darkest investigations of his life.

这个案子让他开始质疑自己过去十七年来所效力的司法体系的某些方面。

One that made him question aspects of the justice system he had spent the past seventeen years of his life working within.

如果你这样虐待动物，那你是否也在虐待人类？

If you're abusing animals like this, are you abusing humans?

我是内特·赫吉。

I'm Nate Hedgie.

这里是NHPR纪录片团队与Outside In联合制作的三集特别节目《夜猫行动》。

From NHPR's Document Team and Outside In, this is a special three part series, Operation Night Cat.

这是一种对暴力的欢庆式呈现。

This is a kind of gleeful celebration of violence.

就像他们在后院玩《侠盗猎车手》，只不过对象换成了动物。

It's like they're playing Grand Theft Auto behind their house except with animals.

他们可以为所欲为却逍遥法外。

They can do whatever they want and get away with it.

没人能看透那堵墙后面。

Nobody can see over that wall.

第一集。

Episode one.

鹿为什么要过马路？

Why did the deer cross the road?

这里是NHBR纪录片团队与Outside In联合制作的《夜猫行动》。

From NHBR's document team and Outside In, this is Operation Night Cat.

我是内特·赫吉。

I'm Nate Hedgie.

让我看看能不能合上这个。

Let's see if I can close this.

这个包。

This bag.

我用这个包很久了。

I've had this forever.

这个包是我2003年在伊拉克时得到的。

I got this bag in 2003 when I was in Iraq.

在成为渔猎管理员之前，罗恩·阿瑟诺特经历过不少职业变动。

Before becoming a fish and game warden, Ron Arsenault bounced around a bit.

他在海军服役八年，曾被派驻伊拉克。

He served in the Navy for eight years, got deployed to Iraq.

退伍后，他做过园艺工作，后来又在镇上的垃圾场工作。

And when he got out of the military, he did some work as a landscaper, then at the town dump.

就像他现在几乎每天都穿的那件笨重的绿色渔猎部门发放的外套一样，这份工作很适合他。

But like that bulky green fishing game issued coat he wears almost every day now, this job fits him.

部分原因是他非常健谈，善于向人们解释各种复杂的狩猎规定，部分原因是他真心相信这些规则。

In part because he is very chatty, good at explaining all the myriad hunting regs to people, and in part because he really believes in those rules.

他甚至举报过自己违法乱纪的家人，包括他的儿子和侄女。

I mean, he's even dinged his own family members for breaking the law, including his own son and his niece.

她猎杀了人生中第一头鹿，但当时不是母鹿狩猎季，而她打中的是母鹿。

She shot her first deer, but it wasn't doe season, and she shot a doe.

她以为那是头公鹿。

She thought it was a buck.

她直接走到检查站，当着所有人的面给她开了罚单。

Went right to the check station right in front of everybody and wrote her a ticket.

当时所有人都在议论纷纷，说罗恩对谁都一视同仁。

And everybody at that point was like talking and spreading the word and Ron will get anyone.

是啊。

Yeah.

他就像，连自己母亲都敢顶撞。

He's like, he white his own mother.

所以这挺好的，因为消息会传遍全镇。

So it's good because that goes around town.

然后当那家伙找各种借口时，我就想，我自己的孩子都没这么操心过。

And then when the guy's like gives you all the excuse, I'm like, wrote my own kid for this.

他们就，哦。

They're like, oh.

我绝对不可能

There's no way I'm getting

脱身了现在。

out of this now.

还挺有意思的。

It's kinda fun.

和他一起兜风时，我就能理解为什么罗恩是个硬汉的形象会在镇上传开了。

Riding around with him, I could see how easily the idea of Ron being a bit of a hard ass could get around town.

他有点像小镇警长。

He's kinda like a small town sheriff.

我们遇到的每个人都认识他，或者似乎都认得他的卡车。

Everyone we saw knew his name or seemed to recognize his truck.

这得益于他在这里长大，新罕布什尔州这片被称为湖泊区的地区。

It helps that he grew up here, a part of New Hampshire known as the Lakes Region.

沿着那条路走，我在棒球场打过少年联盟赛，小时候就是在这里上的猎人教育课。

Down the road there, played little league in the ball field, and this is where I took my hunter ed when I was a kid.

就像，这就是我的意思。

Like, that's what mean.

比如，我我投入了。

Like, I'm I'm invested.

对。

Right.

是的。

Yeah.

没错。

Yeah.

这就像是根深蒂固的联系。

This is like deep, deep ties.

湖区宛如迷宫，布满蜿蜒狭窄的道路、古雅的新英格兰小镇，没错，还有辽阔的湖泊与茂密的森林。

The Lakes Region is a maze of tight, winding roads, quaint little New England towns, yes, big lakes, and also dense, leafy woods.

在这种地方看到鹿群过马路的标志时，你可能会想：这牌子立来干嘛？

It's the kind of place where if you see a deer crossing sign, you're like, what's the point?

因为鹿群随处可见，这里自然成了猎人的天堂。

Because there are deer everywhere, which makes it a hunter's haven.

镇上理发店的墙壁贴满了居民猎到的鹿的照片——就是这样的地方。

It's the kind of place where the town barber posted photos of everyone's deer on the wall of his shop.

罗恩对此记忆犹新。

Ron remembers it well.

小时候我去那儿，能看到整面墙挂满鹿头照片，估计得有上千张。

When I was a kid, you know, I'd go there and they'd, you know, we'd see all the bucks on the wall, like, thousand pictures probably on the wall.

那是本地人专属的荣誉室，用来炫耀猎到的鹿。

It was a kind of locals only trophy room, a place to brag about the deer they hunted.

罗恩告诉我，墙上很多照片都是由当地凯利家族拍摄的。

And many of the photos on that wall, Ron told me, were taken by a local family named the Kellys.

要知道，凯利家族在镇上以猎杀大型雄鹿而闻名。

You know, the Kelly family was a well known name, you know, around town for killing big bucks.

过去，老一辈的凯利们总在理发店里炫耀他们的大把钞票。

Back in the day, the older Kelly's would show off their big bucks at the barbershop.

而如今，年轻一代却在TikTok上炫耀他们的猎杀成果。

But nowadays, the next generation shows off their kills on TikTok.

我刚在伊利诺伊州干掉了一头绝对壮硕的公鹿。

I just smoked an absolute stud in Illinois.

汤姆·凯利在TikTok上有超过2万名粉丝。

Tom Kelly has more than 20,000 followers on TikTok.

他主要发布自己打猎的视频。

He mostly posts videos of himself hunting.

我尽可能久地守在这里，直到他穿过树林走过来。

Sat here as long as I could, and he came walking up through it.

我用那把老308步枪结果了他。

I smoked him with the old three zero eight.

在这些视频里，你能看出汤姆是个年轻人。

And in these videos, you can see Tom is a young guy.

他三十出头，剃着光头，全身穿着昂贵的迷彩服。

He's in his early thirties, shaved head, decked out in expensive camouflage.

他身材相当健壮，通过生酮饮食减掉了大量体重，看起来就像《黑鹰坠落》里的临时演员。

He's pretty fit, lost a ton of weight on the keto diet, and he looks like an extra in some movie Black Hawk Down.

有个视频里，他在新罕布什尔州猎杀一头鹿后激动得浑身发抖。

In one video, he's trembling with excitement after he kills a deer in New Hampshire.

刚猎到一头大公鹿。

Just killed a big buck.

我激动得话都说不出来。

I can't even talk.

到处都是血。

There's blood everywhere.

我把他们彻底干掉了。

I absolutely smoked them.

在另一个视频里，汤姆用AI生成的抖音声音自称是这片森林的阿尔法领袖，然后射杀了一只郊狼。

In another one, Tom uses that AI generated TikTok voice to call himself the alpha in these woods before shooting a coyote.

标签：#捕食者管控

Hashtag predator control.

标签：#夜间猎人

Hashtag night hunter.

我才是这片森林的阿尔法领袖。

I am the alpha in these woods.

现在，我要声明清楚。

Now, I want to be clear.

大多数猎人都严格遵守所有规定。

Most hunters follow all the regulations out there.

他们注重安全，并确保未来世代仍有动物可猎。

They care about safety and making sure there are still animals to hunt for generations to come.

但汤姆·凯利呢？

But Tom Kelly?

他逐渐以有时为获取战利品而违规出名。

He was developing a reputation as a guy who sometimes broke the rules to get his trophies.

这些规则源于狩猎道德准则。

These rules were inspired by a hunting code of ethics.

这就是所谓的公平追逐原则。

It's known as fair chase.

在美国，这一准则可追溯至130多年前，当时尚未成为总统的西奥多·罗斯福与他的猎友团体共同制定。

In The United States, this code dates back more than a hundred and thirty years to when Teddy Roosevelt, before he was president, got together with a group of his hunting buddies.

他们想制止曾导致许多物种濒临灭绝的无谓杀戮。

They wanted to stop the mindless killing that almost wiped out entire species here.

这个理念是为了创造公平竞争的环境，给动物更多生存的机会。

The idea was to level the playing field, to give animals more of an edge at surviving.

这就是为什么现在有规定禁止用卡车追猎鹿、夜间猎杀熊或撒饵吸引鸭子。

It's why there are now regulations about, say, using a truck to chase down a deer, or killing a bear at night, or throwing some seed down to attract ducks.

共识认为这是不公平的。

The consensus is it's not fair.

但实际上，这些法律也可能让人非常困惑。

But in practice, these laws can also be really confusing.

我深知这一点，因为我本人就是一名猎人。

And I know this because I am a hunter myself.

你需要获得不同的许可证，对使用的枪支、狩猎地点、时间段和季节都有各种限制。

There are different licenses you need to get, restrictions on what firearms you can use, where you can hunt animals, what time of day, which season.

而且这些规则每年都可能变化，各州之间也不尽相同。

And these rules, they can change year to year and differ state to state.

比如，在新罕布什尔州受保护的动物，可能在相邻的马萨诸塞州就是合法猎物。

Like, an animal that might be protected in New Hampshire could be fair game in neighboring Massachusetts.

但了解这些规则是猎人的职责。

But it's a hunter's job to know these rules.

而汤姆·凯利——那个喜欢在TikTok上炫耀猎鹿视频的家伙——被抓到作弊了。

And Tom Kelly, the guy who loved to smoke bucks for TikTok, he'd been caught cheating.

例如，汤姆在缅因州就因所谓的'诱饵狩猎'惹上了麻烦。

For instance, Tom got in trouble in Maine for something called baiting.

这种狩猎方式是通过放置食物将动物引诱到特定地点然后射杀。

This is where you put out food to lure an animal into a certain spot and then you shoot it.

我讨厌诱饵狩猎。

I hate baiting.

你为什么

Why do you

讨厌这样吗？

hate it?

让我直说吧。

Let me just say that.

你为什么讨厌这样？

Why do you hate it?

因为在我看来这就是作弊。

Because it's cheating in my book.

谁都可以往树林里撒一堆谷物然后射杀一头鹿。

Anybody can throw a pile of grain in the woods and and shoot a deer.

2020年，汤姆因在缅因州家族拥有的土地上用诱饵猎杀鹿而被起诉，该州禁止在狩猎季使用诱饵。

In 2020, Tom was charged with baiting and shooting a deer on some property his family owned in Maine, a state where you are not allowed to bait deer during the hunting season.

这些指控最终被撤销，但随后他再次在缅因州被起诉，这次是因在诱饵点非法猎杀黑熊。

Those charges were ultimately dropped, but then he was charged again in Maine, this time for illegally hunting a black bear over a bait site.

这些指控成立，汤姆被吊销狩猎资格一年。

Those charges stuck and Tom lost his hunting privileges for a year.

关键是，当罗恩接到当地警长的电话时，汤姆早已被他列为重点关注对象。

Point is, Tom was on Ron's radar as a person to watch when he got a call from a local police chief.

那是2022年12月一个寒冷的夜晚，警长说他开车经过汤姆·凯利家附近时发现了异常情况。

It was a cold December night in 2022, and the chief said he was driving near Tom Kelly's house when he noticed something odd.

于是警长打电话给罗恩说

So the chief calls Ron and he says

我们正赶赴报警现场，结果四五头鹿刚好从他家旁边经过。

We're heading to a call and four or five deer just crossed right by his house.

我当时就想，哦，我打赌他肯定在那儿设了诱饵。

And I'm like, oh, I bet he's got a bait right there.

我明天早上去查个究竟。

I'll check it out tomorrow morning.

于是第二天早上，罗恩顺路去了汤姆·凯利的房产。

So the next morning, Ron swung by Tom Kelly's property.

那是六英亩土地上的一栋两居室小屋，大院子周围是茂密的森林。

It's a little two bedroom house on six acres of land, a big yard surrounded by dense forest.

当我停靠路边时，看到一条像是牛群踩出的小径通向树林。

When I pull off the side of the road, there's like, it looks like a cattle path that is going into the woods.

我沿着小径前行。

I followed the path.

大概只有150英尺左右的距离。

It was only probably a 150 feet maybe.

来到院子边缘后，我掏出望远镜观察，能清楚看到谷堆前放着一大捆干草。

And I got to the edge of the yard, took out my binoculars and looked and I could see the pile of grain with a big bale of hay in front of it.

所以这明显是诱饵。

So it was very clear that it was bait.

鹿特别喜欢吃谷物。

Deer love to eat grain.

根据新罕布什尔州的诱捕法规，汤姆给它们准备了非法盛宴。

And according to New Hampshire's baiting laws, Tom had left them an illegal feast.

但随后罗恩注意到另一样东西——对准诱饵点的运动感应相机。

But then Ron noticed something else, a motion sensor camera aimed at the bait site.

罗恩怀疑汤姆·凯利可能用这台相机来提醒自己，一旦有动物靠近诱饵点就能立即拿起来复枪。

Ron suspected Tom Kelly could be using this camera to alert him whenever an animal came by the bait site so he could grab his rifle.

这种猎杀野味的潜在捷径也可能成为罗恩的证据。

And this potential shortcut for bagging game could also be evidence for Ron.

几天后，罗恩带着搜查令回来了。

So a couple days later, Ron comes back with a search warrant.

他没收了汤姆的相机，开始仔细检查存储卡内容。

He seizes Tom's camera and starts digging through the SD card.

果然，罗恩找到了证实他猜疑的证据。

And sure enough, Ron found evidence confirming his suspicions.

一张鹿在诱饵点的照片，后来被汤姆猎杀了。

A picture of a deer at the bait site that Tom later killed.

就像猎杀前一晚那样，它当时正在诱饵点进食。

Like the night before he killed it, it was there at the bait eating.

我就想，他用诱饵引诱那头鹿并射杀了它，这就是通过非法诱饵猎鹿的辅助手段。

So I'm like, well, he shot that deer and he used that bait to lure in the deer, so that's the aid and use of taking a deer over an illegal bait.

我当时就想，这已经够立案了，但我还想深挖，因为我想要那部手机。

So I'm like, well, have a charge right there, but I wanna go more because I want the phone.

考虑到他的前科，怀疑汤姆非法猎杀的鹿不止一头。

Considering his history, suspected that Tom had illegally killed more than just one deer.

如果他正在非法猎鹿，他肯定会告诉同伴，会说'嘿伙计，过来找我，我刚打了头鹿'之类的，这些信息都会留在手机上。

So if he's killing a deer illegally, he's gonna tell his buddy and he's gonna say, hey buddy, come meet me because I shot this blah blah blah and you're gonna have all this information on this phone.

于是圣诞节前几天，罗恩去了汤姆家，敲门出示搜查令，没收了汤姆的手机。

So a few days before Christmas, Ron goes to Tom's house, knocks on the door, shows him another search warrant, and seizes Tom's phone.

那部手机里的数据量实在太庞大了。

There's just so much data in that phone.

数据量约有1.6TB。

It was like 1.6 terabytes of data.

哇。

Wow.

这些都是照片吗？

So these are photos?

有照片。

There's photos.

还有短信。

There's text messages.

有视频。

There's videos.

还有即时消息。

There's, instant messages.

罗恩是个老派的人，不太擅长科技。

Now, Ron, he is old school, not very good with technology.

你知道的，给我一把链锯就行。

You know, give me a chainsaw.

给我木材。

Give me give me the wood.

我会砍柴、劈柴，你知道的，拖鹿出来什么的都行。

I'll cut the firewood, I'll split the firewood, you know, I'll drag the deer out, whatever.

但一涉及到这些技术玩意儿，就像什么模拟消息、即时消息、短信之类的，我就完全搞不懂了，这到底是个啥？

But you start getting into this technical stuff and it's like Sims and Mims and texts and, you know, I I had no idea, like, what the heck is this?

罗恩的特点是特别执着。

The thing about Ron is that he is obsessive.

他就像一只猎鸟犬，一旦嗅到气味就绝不松口。

He's like a bird dog that once it catches a scent, he cannot break away.

所以我们找了年轻同事帮忙讲解如何梳理手机数据。

So we found younger colleagues to help explain how to comb through a phone's data.

然后每天晚上，罗恩都会用那台笨重的旧笔记本电脑花上几个小时，通过关键词如鹿、诱饵、夜猎来搜索汤姆的短信。

And then every night, Ron would spend hours on this old heavy laptop searching through Tom's text messages using keywords like deer, bait, night hunting.

我妻子就会说，是啊。

My wife would be yeah.

她坐在那儿玩电脑游戏时会问：你还在忙那个吗？

She's sitting there doing her games on her computer and say, you still working on that?

我就说，嗯。

I'm like, yep.

还在处理中。

Still working on it.

就是说，这就是我们该做的。

Like, this is what we gotta do.

你懂吗？我们非得搞定这事不可。

We gotta gotta get it, you know?

当他开始筛选这些文字和图片，寻找更多非法猎杀的证据时，罗恩找到了他想要的东西。

And as he started sifting through all these texts and images, looking for evidence of more illegal kills, Ron found what he was looking for.

他还发现了一些意料之外、规模更大的事情。

He also discovered something that he did not expect, something much bigger.

广告之后，即将揭晓。

That's next, after the break.

这里是NHPR纪录片团队与Outside In联合制作的《夜猫行动》。

From NHPR's document team and Outside In, this is Operation Night Cat.

我是内特·赫奇。

I'm Nate Hetchy.

盗猎犯罪通常会让人联想到某些画面——大多发生在海外——被取走象牙和犀牛角的大象与犀牛尸体，这些赃物将在黑市上出售。

Boaching is a crime that usually conjures up certain images, mostly overseas, of dead elephants and rhinos with their tusks and horns removed for sale on the black market.

但从技术上讲，任何非法捕获野生动物的行为都属于盗猎。

But technically, poaching is any illegal activity used to take an animal.

之前提到的米诺鱼陷阱，那就是盗猎。

That minnow trap from earlier, that's poaching.

话虽如此，'盗猎'也是个相当敏感的术语。

That said, poaching is also a really loaded term.

许多违反狩猎和捕鱼法规的人并非故意为之。

Many people who violate hunting and fishing laws do it on accident.

因此渔猎官员只把这个标签留给那些明知故犯的人。

So fish and game officers reserve the label for the ones who know they're breaking the rules.

盗猎者是当今世界最恶劣的违法者。

The poachers are the the most egregious violators in our world.

当罗恩翻查猎人汤姆·凯利的手机时，他发现了一些让他联想到盗猎者的内容。

And as Ron was digging through hunter Tom Kelly's phone, he found something that made him think: poacher.

这是凯利的一段视频。

Here's a video of Kelly.

这是一只山猫。

This is the bobcat.

我们播放一下。

Let's play it.

在这段视频中，我看到一个红色十字准星锁定了一只山猫。

In this video, I could see a pair of red crosshairs trained on a bobcat.

它的眼睛发着光，因为摄像机开启了夜视模式，而且就安装在汤姆·凯利的步枪上。

Its eyes are glowing because the camera is in night vision, and it's attached to Tom Kelly's rifle.

山猫突然倒下，

The bobcat keels over,

死了。

dead.

山猫是新罕布什尔州的保护物种，二十世纪时在新英格兰地区几乎被猎杀至灭绝。

Bobcats are a protected species in New Hampshire, and during the twentieth century, they were hunted almost to extinction in New England.

我还需要说明，出于安全考虑，夜间猎杀大多数物种也是违法的。

And I should say that it's also illegal to hunt most species at night for safety reasons.

罗恩认为汤姆是用鹿肉残渣将这只山猫引诱到他的后院。

Ron thinks Tom lured this bobcat into his backyard using meat scraps from deer.

他射杀了它，然后把视频发给了朋友群。

He shot it and then sent the video to a group of friends.

但这还不是全部。

But that wasn't all.

罗恩接下来发现的东西真正引起了他的注意。

What Ron found next really got his attention.

汤姆的朋友们也在发回他们自己猎杀山猫的视频。

Tom's friends were sending back their own videos of themselves killing bobcats too.

罗恩让我坐在他的工作笔记本电脑前，给我看了一些猎杀画面。

Ron sat me down in front of his work laptop to show me some of those kills.

就在那儿。

There it is.

那是山猫。

That's Bobcat.

山猫。

Bobcat.

又一只山猫。

Another Bobcat.

山猫。

Bobcat.

这个小组似乎至少由五个人组成，包括汤姆·凯利和罗恩。

This group seemed to consist of at least five guys, including Tom Kelly and Ron.

汤姆手机里的证据显示，他们看起来都是彻头彻尾的偷猎者。

The evidence from Tom's phone showed all of them looked like poachers with a capital P.

不仅因为他们猎杀受保护物种违反了州法律，似乎还违反了联邦法律。

Not only because they were violating state law by killing a protected species, it seemed they were also violating federal law.

罗恩说他看到证据，汤姆和其他人将死去的山猫运过州界线。

Ron says he saw evidence of Tom and the others taking their dead bobcats across state lines.

然后他们在允许猎杀山猫的州进行登记或打标签，让非法猎杀看起来合法。

Then they would register or tag them in states where it's okay to hunt bobcats, making their illegal kills look legit.

这似乎违反了名为《莱西法案》的联邦法律。

And this appears to be a violation of a federal law called the Lacey Act.

这份法案由爱荷华州的共和党国会议员约翰·莱西于1900年撰写，因为当时我们正对美国的鸟类实施毁灭性打击。

It was written by a Republican congressman from Iowa, John Lacey, back in 1900 because at the time, we were raining hellfire on America's birds.

商业猎人们以数百万计的规模捕杀鸟类，既为贩卖禽肉，也为了将羽毛装饰在女士帽子上。

Commercial hunters were killing them by the millions to sell us food and to literally put a feather in women's caps.

虽然有些州允许这种捕猎行为，但其他州明令禁止。

While some states allowed this, others didn't.

为了规避各州法律，这些商业猎人会伪造猎杀记录——谎称是在允许狩猎的州捕杀的鸟类，实际上却是在禁猎州进行的猎杀。

So in order to get around these state laws, these commercial hunters would launder their birds, pretending that they killed them in states that allowed this kind of hunting when in reality, they killed them in states that didn't.

《莱西法案》终结了这种乱象。

The Lacey Act put an end to that.

于是罗恩致电美国鱼类及野生动物管理局的同事，向他们汇报自己的发现。

So Ron called up his colleagues at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and he told them about what he was seeing.

喂。

Hey.

新罕布什尔州晚上有人非法猎杀山猫，他们正在合法地给我打跨州标签。

We got some bobcats getting cranked in New Hampshire at night, they're tagging me legally going across state lines.

罗恩表示，联邦探员对此很感兴趣。

The feds, Ron says, were intrigued.

正是这个转折点，让这次突袭行动的规模扩大到足以载入史册。

And this is the moment this bust became wide enough to earn its own name.

这个行动名称是罗恩妻子想出来的。

Ron's wife was the one to coin it.

有天晚上我们坐在餐桌前，我说：嘿。

We were sitting at the table one night and we're I'm like, hey.

我们要和联邦探员碰头。

We're gonna meet with the feds.

我们要把这变成一次正式行动。

We're gonna make this an operation.

我们得想个办法。

We gotta think of something.

她说，行动代号夜猫。

She was like, operation night cat.

我说，太完美了。

I'm like, that's perfect.

我说，我被录用了。

I'm like, hired.

罗恩从业近二十年来，从未遇到过如此重大的案件。

In his nearly two decades on the job, Ron had never stumbled onto a case this big.

他兴奋极了。

He was so jacked.

一切都始于四五只鹿横穿马路。

It all started with four or five deer walking across the road.

如果追溯源头，就像在问：鹿为什么要过马路？

Because if you look at it all the way to the beginning, it was like, why did the deer cross the road?

为了杀死一只山猫。

To kill a bobcat.

这简直太疯狂了。

It's like it's crazy.

2023年1月12日黎明前，在那些鹿横穿汤姆·凯利家门前道路的一个月后，罗恩和他的执法伙伴们对汤姆家执行了搜查令。

Before sunrise, on 01/12/2023, a month after those deer crossed the road in front of Tom Kelly's property, Ron and his buddies in law enforcement executed a search warrant on Tom's house.

屋内，警员们发现了一只剥制山猫标本、配有夜视镜的步枪和固定摄像头，以及他后院的诱捕点。

Inside, the officers find a taxidermied bobcat, rifles with night vision scopes and mounted cameras, and the bait site in his backyard.

他们还在汤姆的后甲板上发现了一个类似狙击点的隐蔽处，设计得让动物无法察觉他准备射击。

They also find what looked like a sniper's nest on Tom's back deck, made so animals can't see him getting ready to shoot.

罗恩给我看了相关照片。

Ron showed me pictures of it.

他就是从这里的高处射击的。

This is where he's shooting from up here.

看到他如何用胶合板围住栏杆了吗？就像个隐蔽处。

See how he has the plywood around the railing, so it's like a blind?

对。

Yeah.

所以他在这里架了个三脚架，用他的22口径带夜视镜的枪，而诱饵堆就在我站的位置这里。

So he had he had tripod up here with his, 22 with a night scope, and this is the bait pile, like, right here I'm standing at.

他还在那里装了个运动传感器。

And he would just get a he had a motion sensor there.

传感器一触发，他就直接从射击口开枪。

It would go off, and he would shoot Right out of his port.

从他的射击口。

Out of his port.

他只要拉开滑门，出来就砰的一枪。

He'd just open the slider and come out and pew.

当罗恩正在搜查汤姆·凯利的家时，他在新罕布什尔渔猎局的同事与当地警察及联邦探员同时抵达了偷猎团伙其他成员的住所。

As Ron is searching Tom Kelly's house, his colleagues at New Hampshire Fish and Game along with local police and federal agents arrive at the houses of the other guys in the poaching group.

其中一人名叫兰迪·英曼。

One of them is a man named Randy Inman.

兰迪显然收到了执法部门要搜查他家的风声。

Randy apparently got tipped off that law enforcement were gonna search his house.

兰迪，我记得他请了病假。

Randy, I think calls in sick.

他当时在上班。

He's at work.

他说自己病了，然后飙车赶回家。

He says he's sick and comes screaming home.

这位是自然资源保护官凯文·布朗森中士。

This is conservation officer sergeant Kevin Bronson.

老实说，一开始当我从罗恩那里得知他射杀了一些猫时，我并没有特别警觉。

Honestly, at the beginning, when I got the information from Ron that he'd been shooting some cats, my hackles were still not really up.

我还以为事情大概就这样了。

And I thought it would be like, okay.

所以我们发现了一只猫和一只红狐。

So we've got a cat somewhere and a a red fox.

但事实并非如此。

And and it wasn't.

情况要严重得多。

It was way more than that.

他们发现证据表明兰迪曾在夜间非法猎杀了至少20只动物。

They uncovered evidence that Randy had illegally killed at least 20 animals there at night.

狐狸、山猫、郊狼。

Foxes, bobcats, coyotes.

这就像他们在玩《侠盗猎车手》游戏买房子一样，只不过对象换成了动物。

It's like they're playing Grand Theft Auto buying their house except with animals.

兰迪开枪次数太多，他当时的女友后来告诉调查人员她无法入睡。

Randy was shooting so much that his girlfriend at the time later told investigators she couldn't sleep.

汤姆和兰迪就像在进行某种比赛。

It was like Tom and Randy were in some sort of competition.

看谁杀得更多？

Who could get the most kills?

为了向我展示，罗恩在电脑上滚动浏览了一些照片和视频示例。

To show me, Ron scrolled through examples of photos and videos on his computer.

灰狐、山猫、灰狐、山猫、红狐、红狐、灰狐、灰狐、红狐、郊狼、山猫、郊狼、乌鸦、山猫、红狐。

Gray fox, bobcat, gray fox, bobcat, red fox, red fox, gray fox, gray fox, red fox, coyote, bobcat, coyote, crow, bobcat, red fox.

他们猎杀一切生物。

They kill everything.

他们会用夜视镜射杀这些动物，录下视频，然后在群里分享。

They would shoot these animals using a night scope, record it, and then share the videos with the group.

他们还会互相交流，比如‘嘿，枪法不错’。

And they could talk to each other, like, hey, nice shot.

他们通过手机联系，所有人都能收到消息。

And they communicate with their phones, like, they all get the message.

所有人都能观看视频。

They all get to watch it.

就像他们会收到手机消息，可以观看视频。

Like, they they would get a message sent to their phone, and they could watch the video.

然后说‘嘿，枪法不错’。

And then be like, hey, nice shot.

‘哦，你打中了那只的眼睛’，诸如此类。

Oh, you shot that one in the eye, you know, whatever.

掌握了这些证据后，渔猎局有信心以偷猎相关罪名起诉这些人。

With all this evidence, Fish and Game felt confident they could charge these guys for poaching related crimes.

据称他们非法猎杀了数十只动物。

They allegedly killed dozens of animals illegally.

然而，他们发现最令人不安的行为并不违反法律条文。

And yet, some of the most concerning stuff they found wasn't a violation of legal code.

而是违背了道德准则。

They were violations of moral codes.