Camel season opens in Australia - August 12, 2009
The Australian government has announced AUS$19 million (£9.5 million) in funding for a mass cull of the country’s wild camels, most likely done by chasing and shooting the beasts from helicopters. The announcement has caused a stir, with people objecting to the waste of leaving shot camels to rot in the outback and others calling it inhumane (The Guardian).
Camels were introduced to Australia in the 19th century to help transport heavy goods to the remote interior of the country, but since being released into the wild they have since become a major pest (New Zealand Herald).
“The scientific evidence suggests they'll eat anything up to 80 per cent of the plants available," Murray McGregor, research general manager of Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, which is involved in planning the cull, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Jan Ferguson, managing director of the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, says there are more than a million camels in desert regions. "Australia has long accepted that we've got a problem with rabbits,” she says, “because they are in everybody's country. Camels tend to be isolated in the bush, so they're not so visible." The population is doubling in size every nine years.
But camel exporter Paddy McHugh might have a point when he says, "What happens in 15 years when the numbers come back again? Do we waste another AUS$20 million?" He suggests catching and exporting the animals for entertainment and food. Animal Liberation New South Wales animal welfare group instead proposed providing the camels with birth control
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also got it in the neck from Erin Burnett, a newsreader on CNBC. She said during a broadcast: "There is a serial killer in Australia and we are going to put a picture up so we can see who it is.” A photo of Rudd appeared on the screen. "That would be the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd," Burnett told viewers. "Okay, well do you know what he is doing? He has launched air strikes - air strikes - against camels in the outback." Burnett later called her announcement a “deadpan joke”.
Posted for Mico Tatalovic
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Comments
Calculate the amortized cost of eradicating one camel. Offer 70% for a pair of ears - no season, no limit, no license fee. The whole of the American South plus its weapons and hounds will queue up for the adventure. What camel problem?
Posted by: Uncle Al | August 12, 2009 09:11 PM
Culling is a Blind man’s solution to the camel problem...!!
I would like to bring to your attention another side of the Australian camel problem and the industry’s potential. At the moment 19 million dollars spent on just the wholesale slaughter of camels is not the answer.
I am deeply disturbed by what is about to happen and feel that people and the media have only been told only one side of the story and a very slanted and incorrect one at that.
My name is Paddy McHugh and I have been working with camels in Australia and overseas for some 35 years. I have seen many things come and go over the years and we have now reached a point where we are at the fork in the road.
Do we go down the path of mass slaughter, disease problems from rotting carcasses, dingo explosion and missed opportunities or do we look to the future, a golden opportunity of another viable rural industry for this country with employment in a new bio diverse industry that will employ hundreds of Aboriginal people and bring large amounts of export dollars into this country.
The people in APY lands and CLC deserts are being told complete untruths and are having the wool pulled over their eyes in one of the greatest immoral scams this country has ever witnessed.
The traditional land owners are yet again about to be ripped off and left in the dark.
As a very good friend of mine has stated “The Camel is the animal of the 22nd century” This statement came from Dr Alex Tinson who is quite possibly the world’s leading camel vet and works for the President of the UAE.
My office receives dozens of emails seeking camel products from milk, meat, blood and all the by products that come from this animal, the potential for this industry is immense internationally.
It is an animal easily farmed like cattle and sheep and has a far less detrimental impact on the environment. In actual fact camels enhance the land by helping eradicate woody weeds and have a forage overlap of no more the 20%with cattle and sheep. 70% of Australia’s land mass is classed arid, why are we not farming them....
The commercial side of this potential industry has been suppressed in discussions regarding the feral problem, a mandate to shoot the camel at any cost is absurd, they are completely one track and have absolutely no vision or hands on experience in the husbandry and handling of this animal.
Out of the 19 million dollars that has been allocated for this slaughter none of it has been put into education and training or industry development and that is where the bulk of this funding should be put. Who is accountable here..?
What happens in years to come when the population comes back to the same present numbers, do we spend another 20 million dollars..!! again and again
I acknowledge that we do have a camel problem that needs to be fixed, but the mass shooting of them is certainly not the answer, it is not even close, all parties need to come together and discuss this animal’s future.
Industry given money and political clout will not only fix the problem but stabilise and control it and give many people a great future.
I am urging the review of the distribution of the money allocation so that it is spent in education and training and the development of a great industry for Australia.
A commercial business plan, some practical market development and some people that know what they are talking about is essential for the industry’s long term success.
For years I have tried to passionately champion the camel and its potential in Australia and it is now time to take a firm stand against the so called experts that are ill informed on these matters. I will not let the mindless slaughter of these animals take place.
Many people will have senseless blood on their hands with what is about to happen.
I look forward to sitting down and discussing this for the good of all Australians
Paddy McHugh.com pty ltd
PO Box 245
Belgian Gardens
Queensland, Australia, 4810
61 7 47216720 61 0427216720
paddy@paddymchugh.com
www.paddymchugh.com
Posted by: Paddy McHugh | August 12, 2009 10:59 PM