Culling camels makes Australia a third world country?
Most of the time when I hear stupid things coming out of Britain about Australia Germaine Greer is to blame. This time however I’ve got a bone to pick with the UK general public.
I don’t know about you lot but I don’t recall having ever set foot in a third world country and seen throngs of men running around culling camels.
Yet because that’s what we plan to do in the Northern Territory, apparently Australia now qualifies for third world country status.
The story revolves around the town of Docker River, which is somewhere in the middle of Australia near Alice Springs. Yeah it’s a town most of us aren’t ever going to go visit but it came into the media spotlight recently when it was inundated by thousands of camels.
In their search of water the camels have destroyed local infrastructure and are posing a risk to contaminating the local water supply.
In response to the camel invasion the government announced it was looking at culling six thousand of the things and that’s when the shit hit the fan.
Our friends over in the UK seem to think this is the worst thing to happen since… well forever. Apparently this is an injustice of the highest magnitude and we need to immediately find alternative arrangements.
One suggestion was that instead of spending $49,000 to cull the camels, instead we build a $49,000 watering hole for them.
Yeah because y’know, the best way to combat camel infestation is to build a watering hole to attract even more camels.
Here in Australia we seem to do a pretty decent job of co-existing with our local wildlife. We can’t stop them stealing our babies or eating tourists who ignore the ‘CROCODILES LIVE HERE’ signs, but at least we don’t run around exterminating everything.
I really don’t think culling a few camels is going to put us on the third world country list anytime soon. Overexaggeration much?
As for what to do with the camels, well I don’t know about hygiene standards of wild camels but would eating them be an option? Or perhaps using them in pet food.
Either way they don’t want to seem to go anywhere on their own accord so what exactly are the local residents supposed to do?
If culling camels makes you a third world country I’d hate to wonder what running around the world culling humans in the name of anti-terrorism makes you…
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 am James L(Quote)
I dont think third world have a source of potential food running around their backyard, otherwise the famished population would just be eating.
Maybe thats why they dont have a food source running around, they ate it already.!
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
I knew a guy from Egypt once who swore by camel meat. Personally I’ve never eaten it but if it tastes alright then why not.
If there’s a million feral camels in the desert they can’t be that hard to farm can they?
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm Martin(Quote)
So, if culling these camels makes us a third world country what does letting a pack of hounds rip a fox apart make you?
I can see how the British would have little understanding of how fragile our water resources are at times… lets be honest… ‘British’ and ‘Water’ in the same sentence is historically uncommon(pheewww.. who farted?)but if it rests between culling (humanely??) or allowing a community of people to dissappear then surely culling is the best option.
There is talks of farming the camels eventually.. the market is probably there… we could allways export the meat to the UK!
Isn’t curry their most popular dish?? Camel/Lamb curry.. no one would be able to tell the difference!!
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:52 pm Citizen-D(Quote)
I think we can safely ignore the British, just like the rest of the world does.
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm Totally Discusted(Quote)
Personally I am really upset about the prospect of anyone killing over a million camels. I just dont like the thought of mass killing animals like that. I’m a softy when it comes to these things.
December 3rd, 2009 at 8:39 pm Martin(Quote)
I don’t think they are wiping out the whole population of camels, just a few hundred that have encroached on a township. Personally I’d rather see professional culling than see them dying a slow death from starvation/drought.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:43 pm Roly(Quote)
Camels are emphatically NOT “local wildlife” Oz. They are an *introduced*, *feral*, PEST, no better than the rabbit or cane toad. Add pigs, goats, deer, cats, dogs, sundry bovines, wasps…
Culling? EXTERMINATION should be the object.
I’m not inhumane, I don’t want to see them *suffer*, and if the Brits start up an Adopt A Camel project and we can ship them all over there then that’s fine by me (as long as the live transports are up to scratch of course, don’t want any to die on the way).
Yep, camel is good tucker if you take the normal care with bush meat. The catch with turning a pest into an industry is that you then don’t want to exterminate yourself out of business (despite the fact that several fisheries have managed to do that accidentally).
@Totally Discusted
The experience of being the person who is *there* and has to actually deal with the daily reality of FERAL pigs, deer, cats, dogs (not Dingo’s) horses, camels, toads, and rabbits is very centering. Out for a bushwalk you encounter a badly myxotosed rabbit.
Seriously, what do you do? Walk away and leave it suffering? Whack it over the head with a handy rock? Take it home and nurse it until it dies? What DO you do?
Being a vegan, or an appeal to an overall better way (don’t spread Myxo), does not solve your immediate moral dilemma.
I didn’t create this feral mess, but somebody has to do something about various ferals, at least when they get out of hand.
Which is more important to you, a healthy phascogale, or a savage flea and tick ridden cat? Most people don’t see it, but one dumped domestic pussy has about the same impact on a patch of native forest as a small atomic bomb.
Go on, admit it; you hadn’t even *heard* of a phascogale until you just Googled it. Well I’ve seen one in the wild. ONE! As in by himself all on his own singular one.
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/IMAGES/phascogalebrushtailed.jpg
It’s cute and eats stuff we don’t like such as spiders and insects. A little guy who looks at a funnelweb and thinks “mmmm lunch!” has to have some value to us.
It’s utterly situational. Camels belong in Arabia, not Australia (the rich Ghan traditions notwithstanding, my grandma will still have bought linen from travelling “Ghans” up the Mitta valley even if their camel trains are gone); just as possums are rightly protected in Australia and very valid feral meat and fur in New Zealand (and possom makes a really great doona).
December 4th, 2009 at 2:49 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
If they go ahead with the cull it’s only a few thousand though. I imagine the ones they do take will be from around the town.
It’s not like they’re going into the desert to exterminate them all.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:24 pm Bushrat(Quote)
Hang on, with all these refugees coming out here, cant we kinda, well, hook each of them up with a pet camel?
Sort of like a welcome to Oz type of thing?
December 8th, 2009 at 11:44 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Well we could but then they’d probably hold it hostage and demand we give them a camel allowance or something.
I mean what are the RSPCA going to do, fine them?
December 13th, 2009 at 9:23 am Chris Moore(Quote)
Farm them then eat them don’t waste a good meat it’s as good as Kangaroo/Venison/Rabbit it’s also healthy and low in fat.
Don’t take any notice of the English the are envious of Australia
March 28th, 2010 at 6:59 am Ted(Quote)
Aside from the humor and the camel issue, Australia should begin to recognize that it is a 3rd tier country; maybe 2nd tier if lucky. This is not all bad and has helped save the environment from the terrible effects felt by parts of England, most all of India and half of Asia.
However, we have to face it – we are a backwater, will never be more than 2nd tier. Just look at our primary industry – shipping rocks to other countries. Ultimately we will face the collapse of our commodity industry, as happens everywhere else in the world where economies are based solely on commodities. Then what?
March 29th, 2010 at 1:03 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
This kind of worries me a bit as you’re right. I mean we’re not really that relevant as a satellite spy station over China anymore so world politics wise we just sort of drift along with no purpose. Imagine the fallout if Obama cancelled a trip to China over Twitter!
As for industry and what to do after our natural resources run out… well I guess we could always try and make a Dubai 2.0 in the middle of Alice Springs. Although Dubai doesn’t seem to be working all to well for the middle east.
Personally I’m kind of wondering if the west is going to reinvest back into manufacturing. If quality of life takes a hit and we just accept China as our new economic overlords the balance of power could become very real.
Living in Taiwan I can honestly say that consumerism here is huge. If China’s citizens eventually decide to stop working for peanuts and we as the west pick up the slack there’s plenty of market share here in Asia to go around.