Humps Across Australia
We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have noted, with sadness, the capitulation of Australia to the forces of the Animal Uprising. Between putting the humans in cages at the Adelaide Zoo, Setting up dating services for penguins and feeding the excess human population to the jellyfish we really thought they had reached bottom. But now, an underground has sprung into action! And they plan there own uprising.
They're going after the camels.
"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," said the centre's Glen Edwards.
"Camels have been an emerging problem over the last decade or so, but the latest drought has focused camels' attention on certain parts of the landscape and brought them more into contact with people and their activities," he said.
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.
Feral camel experts from around Australia are due to meet in the western city of Perth on Thursday as part of a project to develop a national plan to control the humped beasts.
"We're talking about hundreds of thousands of camels that need to be removed from the system," Edwards told AFP.
While some could be exported live to markets in the Middle East, Russia and parts of Europe for human consumption, or turned into pet meat, culling would be unavoidable, he said.
"Provided culling is done by people who are professional and well-trained, it is deemed to be probably the most humane way of managing camels — a quick death," Edwards said.
"In some respects it is better to do that than to muster the animals up, put them on a truck and cart them 1,000 kilometres to an export port."
Now if they could figure out a way to turn camels into Vegemite, they could make a fortune. Not that we'd cooperate in massive Vegemite smuggling on a grand scale or anything.
By K T Cat, Wednesday, 14 March , 2007 @ 5:33 pm
Feral camels?!? The mind boggles.
By Tom, Wednesday, 14 March , 2007 @ 6:30 pm
I thought they were also feeding the excess human population to the great white sharks down there? Or did someone come to their senses that human-based cholesterol wasn’t good for the sharks?
By Brett_McS, Thursday, 15 March , 2007 @ 2:45 am
It’s the stingrays you have to look out for, mate.
By Sam L., Thursday, 15 March , 2007 @ 7:49 am
So, are the camel experts feral, or are the camel experts expert on feral camels? Inquiring minds want to know!
By Gaius, Thursday, 15 March , 2007 @ 8:11 am
Somehow, the picture of feral experts is appealing, isn’t it? One can picture them skulking at the edges of the clearing only to dart in to throw out a bit of advice before running back into the shadows.