They are Australia’s largest invasive species, and the government is spending $19 million AUD to deal with the excess population of desert dwellers. The country’s solution? Slaughter them from helicopters and serve them up as camel burgers, camel pies, camel sausages, camel steaks, and camel mince.
Australia’s wild camel population is out of control. An estimated 1 million roam the outback, destroying fragile ecosystems, fouling water holes, and causing a threat to endangered wildlife.
First brought to Australia by explorers in the 1840s from India and the Middle East, the feral camels are now capable of doubling their population every nine years. The one million camels cause intense competition with livestock for forage, and have been known to wreak havoc on water pipes and bathrooms in their search for water.
Environmentalists generally agree with the culling of the animals to help preserve native species, and point out that lean camel meat is healthier than beef or lamb and a good source of low cholesterol protein. However, animal rights groups say that birth control for the animals would be more humane than wholesale slaughter.
Those opposing the plan claim that with the camel population due to double in a decade, the culling would not be effective.
“What happens in 15 years when the numbers come back again? Do we waste another £9.5m.” – Paddy McHugh, camel catcher and exporter
News of the culling brought some namecalling from the press, with Erin Burnett, an anchor on CNBC, calling Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd “a serial killer”.
“He has launched air strikes – air strikes – against camels in the outback.” – Burnett
Burnett later said the comment was a joke, and invited Rudd to be a guest on her show.
Image: wollombi at Flickr under CC License
Hi
at first excuse the quality of my english
I read that the Australia gonna kill thousand camels. It’s bad.
I am ready to receive here in Tunisia the maximum of camels you can send. Can you help me find an organization or people volunteered to transport the camels from Australia to Tunisia.
My best wishes
F. Bechir Ben Saidi
tel: 00216-21008931
mail: [email protected]
Hey stupid people – you can read, right? Look up. Not intellectually challenged are you?
The quote is: “News of the culling brought some namecalling from the press, with Erin Burnett, an anchor on CNBC, calling Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd “a serial killer”.
“He has launched air strikes – air strikes – against camels in the outback.” – Burnett
Burnett later said the comment was a joke, and invited Rudd to be a guest on her show.”
Erin Burnett is clearly dimwitted or plain dumb: first to use the term “airstrike” then to ask Prime Minister Rudd to appear on ‘her’ show! He has far better things to do than share airtime with a self aggrandising, melodramatic bimbo – yes she is infantile… and blonde! Reassuring how people sterotype themselves.
And “aistrike” –noun
the bombing or strafing of a city, enemy force, etc., by military aircraft: The air strike devastated the enemy’s submarine base.
Animal culling/hunting/management from helicopters IS routinely done in Australiasia. NZ keeps Thar, feral goats, deer and Chamois at manageable levels exactly by chopper culls.
Angie – please take your emotions out for a walk, they need air. The animals are not being ‘blamed’. And Australia IS OFFICIALLY FAR BETTER than Palin (how THAT works grammatically as a forced mixed metahphor escapes us!) I live in Aus, have done in a number of other countries and know the US well. 80 million handguns is no recommendation.
I’ll guarantee there are more FERAL NON-NATIVE INTRODUCED CAMELS in Aus, let alone their rest of the world population, than Grizzlies remaining!
Camel meat? There is no abattoir in Norther Territory.
Do your research – that’s like homework children – then comment with intelligence. There is nothing dumber than ignorance. The information is freely available. Best …
So if camels are so tasty why not harvest them like cows, in a short while the problem will be gone if people can make a profit from killing them?
The biggest reason they want cull the camels but really don’t want to admit that it is the main reason. Camels knock down fences, not just some but any they want too. They even knock down home fences in small towns. Now you might not thick so many damaged fences are bad but farmers have to manage their livestock and that livestock have to be kept off public roads. While barbed wire fences deter cattle and sheep, the camels just push straight through them. Lighten up on the US stupidity, you can’t shoot camels from a helicopter and then sell the meat, it’s a bloody big camel, strictly shooting from trucks,then hauling the carcass and maybe searching from the air.
Australians have gone eeeeya with camel meat