Feral camels in the country are becoming desperate due to the shortage of water in drought-ridden Australia. Camels “mad with thirst” had recently rampaged through the Western Desert community of Warakurna, damaging toilets, taps and air conditioners in a frenzied search for water.
Glen Edwards of the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre said:
An estimated one million feral camels whose numbers double every eight years compete with native animals and livestock, threaten native plants, wreck fences, bores and tanks and invade Aboriginal sites.
Apart from culling the only other options seems to be:
• To export the camels live, to markets in the Middle East, Russia and parts of Europe for human consumption,
• Turn them into pet meat
This again would mean gathering the camels and transporting them a long way to port. All answers seem to lead to a cruel end of death for the animals. Though I wonder if these wild camels could be trained for camel safaris and be saved.
These poor animals are to suffer again due to human intervention. Camels were introduced into Australia as pack animals for the vast outback in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but were released into the wild as rail and road travel became more widespread. With no natural predators and ample grazing land, the wild camel population exploded in parts of central, northern and western Australia.
The country has wrestled for years with other imported animals which have run wild and created problems for indigenous wildlife, plants and farmers. Other such invasive species include feral camels, horses, donkeys, pigs, European wild rabbits, European red foxes, cats, goats and cane toads. All of whom will come into the hit list with due course as global warming is likely to effect Australia the most.
Source: Discovery
