Outback camels 'mad with thirst'
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Outback camels 'mad with thirst'*
Australia's worst drought for a century is sending feral camels "mad
with thirst", making a cull of the animals a necessity, officials say.
The country's one million wild camels are already a cause for concern
because of the threat they pose to native animals, the environment and
property.
But the drought is thought to have been to blame for a recent rampage of
camels through a Western Desert community.
Feral camel experts are due to meet in Perth on Thursday to discuss the
issue.
The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre says a wild camel
management plan is urgently needed.
"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," the
centre's Glen Edwards said.
He said the experts would be hearing from communities of Western
Australia (WA), where half of the country's feral camels are believed to
roam.
No predators
The WA Aboriginal community of Warakurna, 800km (500 miles) west of
Alice Springs, was recently hit by a horde of camels, described as being
"mad with thirst".
"There were a couple of hundred - they get big mobs up here," one
resident told Reuters news agency.
"They did a lot of damage searching for water, trampling air
conditioning hoses, taps and pipes."
Mr Edwards said a camel management plan was likely to include a number
of measures, including live exports.
But he said a cull in some parts was unavoidable.
"In unpopulated areas, for example in the Simpson Desert, culling will
be the only option."
Camels were introduced to Australia in the 19th Century as desert
transport animals, but have grown in number because they have no local
predators.
Around 3,000 wild camels were killed in an aerial cull in southern
Australia in 2005 because they were putting extra strain on already
scarce resources set aside for sheep and cattle.