Social media sites have been rammed with confusion after police released blurred images of victims of crime - who happened to be sheep.
英國警方公布了一組打了馬賽克的犯罪受害者照片，大家在社交網站上紛紛表示疑惑不解，因為受害者居然是綿羊。

The lambs' identity was "protected due to their age and vulnerability", West Midlands Police said.
西米德蘭茲郡的警方稱，綿羊的身份“因其未成年，易受傷害而受到保護。”

The woolly passengers were spotted after they were herded into the back of a car and driven around by suspected rustlers.
偷羊嫌犯把羊圈在車廂后部，開著車到處走，隨后引起警方注意，在車里發現了幾只羊。

But the subsequent image circulated by the force turned out to be a joke.
但是隨后警方發布的照片成了一個笑話。

Nic Barlow commented on Facebook: "I wondered why the picture looked a bit woolly."
尼克?巴羅在臉書上說：“我想知道為什么這照片看上去有點毛乎乎的。”

Abbas Zen said: "It would be an animal rights issue if they didn't [blur the images]."
阿巴斯?澤恩說：“如果他們沒打碼就成了侵害動物權利問題。”

Other people were less amused by the force's sense of fun.
其他人不覺得警察的幽默感有多好笑。

"Police show criminal sense of humour as they release pictures of stolen sheep with pixelated faces," tweeted Solene Deplanche.
索林?德普朗奇發推稱，“警察給偷來的羊臉上打碼，顯示了對犯罪案件的幽默感。”

Officers said three suspected sheep rustlers found in the car near Hob Moor Road, Yardley in Birmingham were rounded up in nearby gardens - with one up a tree and another penned in a conservatory.
警方說他們在伯明翰亞德利霍布摩爾路附近發現了三個偷羊嫌疑犯，被困在附近的花園里，其中一個嫌疑犯爬到了樹上，一個躲在溫室里。

The men aged 22, 27, and 28, were arrested on suspicion of theft, while police traced owners of the sheep.
這三個人分別為22歲、27歲、28歲，以偷盜嫌疑被逮捕，警察在找羊主人。

Jokes aside, officers said the lambs were unhurt and have been temporarily re-homed on a farm in Sheldon.
拋開玩笑不說，警察稱綿羊們都沒受到傷害，暫時被安置在謝爾登的一個農場。

Analysis: A sheepish decision?
分析：這是一個羞怯的決定嗎？

British police have guidelines over what information they reveal about victims of crime - but was there a bit of woolly thinking in the West Midlands force after journalists were given an image obscuring the faces of allegedly-rustled lambs?
英國警方對犯罪受害者的信息披露有規定——但是記者們在拿到所謂的被偷的羊的打碼照片時就沒有想想西米德蘭茲郡警方為什么會這樣做嗎？

The Data Protection Act and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, which covers family and private life, require the police to protect personal information unless there is a good reason to release it.
《數據保護法案》和《人權法案》第8條涉及到家庭和私生活，要求警察保護個人信息，除非有恰當的理由才能公開。

My mint sources tell me that an officer in the case blurred the image as a joke.
我打探到的消息稱，此案的一個警察為開玩笑給照片打了碼。

He presumably concluded he had an obligation under the Ewe-ropean Convention on Eweman Rights to hide the poor little lambs' faces.
他可能斷定，根據《歐洲羊權公約》，自己有責任去隱藏可憐小羊的臉。

Vocabulary:

herd: 放牧；使成群
pixelate: 打馬賽克，使像素化
rustler: 偷家畜的賊

英文來源：BBC

譯者：實習生孫美真

審校&編輯：yaning