Thousands of camels in Australia’s remote Outback could be killed by marksmen in helicopters under a government proposal aimed at cutting down the population of the havoc-wreaking creatures.
First introduced into Australia in the 1840s to help explorers travel through the Australian desert, there are now about 1 million camels roaming the country, with the population doubling every nine years.
They compete with sheep and cattle for food, trample vegetation and invade remote settlements in search of water, scaring residents as they tear apart bathrooms and rip up water pipes.
PHOTO: AP
Last month, the federal government set aside A$19 million (US$16 million) for a program to help slash the population. Besides sending in sharpshooters in helicopters and on foot, officials are considering proposals to turn some of the creatures into tasty treats such as camel burgers.
Hunters in the US have shot wolves from helicopters in Alaska in an aerial predator control program there. More than 800 wolves have been killed as part of the program, which has been a point of national controversy since it was initiated five years ago.
Glenn Edwards, who is working on drafting the Australian government’s camel reduction program, said the population needs to be slashed by two-thirds to reduce catastrophic damage.
But some remain opposed to a mass slaughter. Camel exporter Paddy McHugh, who runs camel catching operations throughout Australia, said a cull would be ineffective.
“What happens in 15 years when the numbers come back again? Do we waste another 20 million [Australian dollars]?” McHugh said.
The camels McHugh’s associates capture are sold overseas, used in tourism and processed for their meat. In recent years, McHugh said he has seen an explosion in international demand for the animals.
The main problem with trying to capture and export the animals is that they can grow up to 2.1m tall and weigh 900kg, said Patrick Medway, president of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia.
“You imagine trying to catch a lion or a tiger or an elephant in its native habitat and then bring it back and sell it to another country,” Medway said.
Tony Peacock, chief executive officer of the University of Canberra’s Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center, said a cull was the most effective method.
“To be shot from a helicopter is actually quite humane, even though that sounds brutal,” he said. “If I was a camel, I’d prefer to just get it in the head.”
Mark Pearson, of the animal welfare group Animal Liberation New South Wales, offered another solution: drugging the animals to render them infertile.
But Edwards said even if you could get close enough to administer birth control, camels still live up to 30 years — meaning decades more damage to the environment.
Edwards favored an integrated approach that would include shooting some camels for their meat, with others left behind to decompose.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including