印度环境部长近日对《哈利•波特》系列作品公开指责，称该系列作品的风靡让越来越多的人通过非法途径购买猫头鹰，从而导致印度野生猫头鹰的数量日渐减少。在《哈利•波特》电影中，主角哈利•波特有一只名为“海德薇”的白色猫头鹰当作宠物和信使。该电影2001年在印度上映后在当地掀起了一股“哈利•波特”热潮，民众纷纷效仿哈利开始养猫头鹰当宠物。连城市中产阶级也受到《哈利•波特》的影响对猫头鹰产生莫名其妙的迷恋，并且想要购买猫头鹰给自己的孩子当礼物。猫头鹰在印度教的很多吉庆的场合都被当作祭祀品，而近年来，濒危猫头鹰频繁被捕猎、贩卖或猎杀，导致猫头鹰数量急剧下降。

Harry Potter with his snowy owl.

Harry Potter has been blamed for the dwindling number of wild owls in India, according to the country’s Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh.

Mr Ramesh said the craze for Harry Potter in India had led to an increase in people buying owls from illegal bird traders.

"Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls," Mr Ramesh told the BBC.

A report by conservation group Traffic suggested tough measures should be put in place to protect owls from an upcoming Hindu festival – Diwali - because thousands of owls are sacrificed on Hindu "auspicious occasions".

The author of the report, Abrar Ahmed, decided to investigate the owl trade after being asked to get a white owl for a boy's Harry Potter-themed 10th birthday.

"This was probably one of the strangest demands made to me as an ornithologist," he wrote.

Mr Ahmed found that endangered owls are being caught, traded or sacrificed in black magic rituals, while others are killed for medicine.

"The sacrifice of owls on auspicious occasions appears to be a regular practice and [there could be] a possible increase in trade and sacrifices around Diwali," the Imperilled Custodians of the Night report says.

Harry Potter publishers Bloomsbury declined to comment on the BBC report.

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(Agencies)

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）